Description
Our world has been abundant with life since the first single-celled organisms emerged from the chemical soup of early Earth three and a half billion years ago. In the intervening period, life has evolved to an incredible degree of complexity, both in the structure and function of individual organisms, and in the interactions between them. But what is life exactly? What are the physical and chemical processes of life that distinguish it from ordinary matter? Are there mathematical rules that govern the formation and growth of life? And, how does life evolve? These are some of the fundamental questions that we will be looking at in this program.
This is an introductory-level program, designed for students who are prepared to take their first year of college-level science. Specifically, it will include a full year of introductory biology, chemistry and a foundation in mathematics, which will include precalculus during fall quarter and topics in mathematical biology in the winter quarter. Our goal is to equip students with the conceptual, methodological and quantitative tools that they will need to ask and answer questions that integrate these three disciplines.
Program activities will include lectures and small-group problem-solving workshops, where conceptual and technical skills will be developed. We will have significant hands-on lab experience in biology and chemistry. We will also make use of computer software for mathematical modeling investigations. In seminars, we will explore historical ideas about the origins of life, how theories have developed, and the reactions to them in society. During spring quarter, students will have the opportunity to design and carry out their own laboratory investigations, the results of which they will present in talks and papers at the end of the quarter.
This program will prepare students for more advanced work in biology and chemistry, such as in the programs Molecule to Organism and Environmental Analysis.sion work.