Biology 103 course
Biology Stories - Book Commentaries 2007
Biology 103, Fall 2007, Bryn Mawr College
Book Commentaries
Students in Biology 103 wrote commentaries on books they chose and read during the semester. These are made available to encourage continuing exploration by others with similar or related interests.
Bio 103 Lab 11: From simplicity to complexity: homestasis, autonomy ... and randomness
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 12/05/2007 - 10:23am.Cells are interacting assemblies of macromolecules, multicellular
organisms interacting assemblies of cells, populations and ecosystems
interacting assemblies of organisms ... with in each case more complex behavior emerging from interactions among simpler elements. Could one make sense of more sophisticated aspect sof life in these terms, of social behavior, for example, or the meaning and origin of "purposive" behavior? An
approach that we'll follow today is to explore computer models like one we looked at at the beginning of the course.
Bio 103, Week 10, Genes and Humanity; "Energy" and the Link Between Improbability and Probability
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 11/14/2007 - 11:22am.Glad you're here, to share explorations of life. If you're registered in Biology 103, remember to log in before posting here. Others are welcome to contribute without logging in. Such comments though will be checked to avoid spam postings and so be delayed in appearing.
Bio 103, Lab 9: Mendel's Garden Revisited
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 11/14/2007 - 11:08am.One central piece of modern biology derived from Darwin's voyage to the Galapagos in the latter part of the 19th century. A second emerged, more or less independently, during the same period and resulted from the work of Gregor Mendel breeding pea plants and carefully observing the results. This work produced the first clear understanding of "laws of inheritance", and remains fundamental to most modern understanding of genetics.
Biology Stories - November 2007
Biology 103, Fall 2007, Bryn Mawr College
Second Set of Web Papers
Students in Biology 103 write web papers on topics of interest to themselves. These are made available to encourage continuing exploration by others with similar or related interests.
Bio 103, Lab 8: Onself as a Biological Entity. III. Thinking
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 1:12pm.In the previous two labs in this series, we've discovered that human
behavior takes time, in part because it involves things happening
successively in several different parts of an individual, that these
happenings can be influenced by a variety of external variables but
also to varying degrees by internal ones, and that "thinking" may be a
relevant internal variable. We have also, hopefully, become more
sophisticated at posing questions, collecting observations relevant to
them, and interpreting such observations in relation to questions.
In this lab we want to further build on our experiences by
investigating "thinking" itself.
Is "thinking" also something that takes time? that can be altered by
Bio 103, Week8, Macromolecules and Life
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Fri, 11/02/2007 - 2:38pm.Glad you're here, to share explorations of life. If you're registered in Biology 103, remember to log in before posting here. Others are welcome to contribute without logging in. Such comments though will be checked to avoid spam postings and so be delayed in appearing.
Bio 103, Lab 7: Oneself as a Biological Entity. II. Reacting
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 1:02pm.In last week's lab, we noticed that a part of oneself (the heart) was influenced by but not fully under the control of other parts of oneself. In this lab, we want to further develop the idea that oneself consists of an array of parts that interact with one another to give what we observe as behavior.
Bio 103, Week 7, Working Up From Atoms ...
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 10:22am.Glad you're here, to share explorations of life. If you're registered in Biology 103, remember to log in before posting here. Others are welcome to contribute without logging in. Such comments though will be checked to avoid spam postings and so be delayed in appearing.
Oneself as a Biological Entity. I. The Heart and Its Control
Submitted by Paul Grobstein on Wed, 10/24/2007 - 10:08am.This week we're beginning a set of labs on humans as biological entities ... and a set of labs in which you should use the skills and insights you've developed as a researcher in past labs to develop and carry out your own lines of investigation. We will introduce you to some techniques for observing the pulse, and make a few observations on it together. It is then your task, in groups of three, to develop an interesting inquiry using those techniques to explore the regulation of the pulse ("who's in control?" - "the difference between animate and conscious"?), carry it out, and report your study (motivation, observations, interpretations) here in the lab forum area.
