SAS Program at Whittier College

Breadcrumb

Seminars in Biology that Engage Students in the Creation of New Knowledge

Funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation

Often students begin college with the goal of simply being consumers of knowledge; in the biology seminars listed below, students will transcend this notion by developing the skills and confidence to create new knowledge with faculty mentors. The primary objective of Students as Scholars (SAS) Seminars is to engage biology majors in authentic research and the scholarly process.

A secondary goal of these seminars is to inform students of the many options in biology and the rationale for the basic scientific skills learned in conventional introductory courses such as biology, chemistry, math, and physics. By the end of the first semester, students will realize the power of the scientific method, the excitement of scientific discovery, and the thrill of sharing personal research findings with a broader audience. SAS-seminars will be process-rich, focused on student engagement in scholarly research whereas conventional introductory science courses will be content-rich focused on acquiring the basic tools and theory necessary for scholarly research.