Hello and welcome to the central hub for all things related to the Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories at Cornell University! The following links will provide information about our staff and pedagogy, and you can explore our partnerships with the scientific community.
The Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories are home to many scientific training efforts:
BioG1500: Investigative Biology Laboratory course. This is our flagship course, designed to provide underclassmen (First year and Sophomore) students with essential laboratory experience, emphasizing the concepts and processes of scientific investigation. It provides a learning community to biology majors and non-majors alike, striving to promote communication, literacy, and peer collaboration within the field of the biological sciences.
BIOG 1500 moved away from cookie-cutter lab exercises in 2010 to encourage modern pedagogical techniques, such as inquiry-based labs, active learning, and peer instruction and puts the student in the driver’s seat of their own education. Upholding the value of these techniques and ensuring the scientific success of our students is a duty our staff carries out with pride.
Connect to the Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories through our social media! Follow us on social media by clicking the following links Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Our YouTube channel has many interesting educational videos.
BioG 6500: Pedagogy, active learning, and education research in biology is a training course for graduate student laboratory instructors (M.S. & Ph.D. students). In this course, the laboratory instructors become familiar with modern pedagogical techniques, read journal articles and book chapters on best inclusive teaching practices, apply these newly gained teaching skills to the laboratory sections they teach, and summarize their experiences in a statement of teaching philosophy and in a DEI statement at the end of the semester. Our laboratory instructors do not only walk away with a teaching experience but receive formal teaching training and will become well-rounded faculty members who are equipped with not only research skills but with teaching skills too!
BioG 4980: Evidence-based Undergraduate Teaching Experience is a formal pedagogical training course for undergraduate teaching assistants. Undergraduate students want to gain teaching and communication skills, build confidence, and build their resumes. This course provides excellent training to undergraduates who have taken BioG 1500 and return as teaching assistants. They work with laboratory instructors, facilitate lab discussions, hold office hours, and meet weekly to discuss best teaching practices and read pedagogical journal articles. This course is a strong foundation for undergraduates.
BioG 3500: Introduction to Applied Science Communication: Digital Platforms and Public Engagement is a course designed for undergraduates, so science communication is part of their undergraduate curriculum, not a post-graduate afterthought. Sharing scientific discoveries with the publics is no longer solely the job of professional communicators but rather a skill that all scholars should have. This course is co-taught by a scientist and a communication professional who lead students through a series of hands-on experiences. Students learn real-world examples of consuming information, evaluating evidence, and contributing information to online resources, such as Wikipedia. Students will learn about reaching the publics effectively and how to build a communication strategy plan using digital platforms. Students fill their science communication “toolbox,” learning how to engage a variety of audiences, including the publics, journalists, and policymakers. Students learn to write concisely and accurately, translating dense scientific language into simpler concepts for the public. The course is taught at Cornell University and at the Shoals Marine Laboratory, and examples of how the students used this course for their professional development can be found here.
International research experience in Hungary: from 2019, Cornell students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences can apply for a 10-week-long summer research experience at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This program was established by Mark Sarvary, the Director of the Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories. Dr. Sarvary came to Cornell from Hungary, as a study abroad students, and he started this program to provide the same life-changing opportunities for his students. These undergraduates who learn research methods in BioG 1500 or science communication skills in BioG 3500 can apply these skills and knowledge in an international research environment. This program is fully funded by external, Erasmus+ grants received by Dr. sarvary and his Hungarian colleagues. Students who are interested in this program can read about the origins of the program here and find more information about how to apply through the Cornell CALS Global Fellows program here.
The Bioimagination makerspace: this recording studio was established in Comstock Hall in 2019 to help students, faculty, and staff develop multimodal communication projects. The recording studio was built using an Innovation grant given to Dr. Sarvary by the Center of Teaching Innovation and the Cornell Student Assembly. The recording studio has been helping hundreds of students and faculty with their podcasts, video narrations, voiceovers, and music editing. This fully equipped Whisper room recording studio is available for the entire Cornell community. It gave birth to the undergraduate science podcast, State of the Pod and it is part of the education for the students in the Applied Science Communication course. Any Cornellian can reserve the space here, for free of charge.