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| Tree of Life Labs Examples Entry Template Requirements Equipment | ||||||||||
Requirements for your Digital Portfolios
A portfolio entry is a combination of text and images that represents one of your laboratory projects. It might include one image or five. It might include one page of text or five. It might include graphs and/or tables. Seven portfolio entries are required. The details of the requirements are outlined below. The characteristics of each entry will vary depending on the nature of your project. For BIOL 101 projects, you can expect your entries to be relatively brief (1-2 pages). For independent research projects in your junior or senior year, you can expect your entries to be longer. Each portfolio entry should include (see Master template file): I. A descriptive, informative, concise title. II. A descriptive paragraph explaining the experiment/lab exercise for which the image was taken. This paragraph must include answers to the following questions. If you prefer, you can simply answer the questions directly. b. What tool(s) were used to test your hypothesis? c. Technical information (e.g., basic protocol)? d. What did you observe (results)? e. What did you conclude? f. What level of biological organization does your image represent? (e.g., molecular, cell, tissue, organ, organism, population, community, ecosystem). Explain. g. How do your results relate to other levels of biological organization? (For example, how do your results help to understand/appreciate processes at other levels or organization?) h. What did you learn from this experiment that you did not know before? i. What new question would you now ask? III. Image (pasted within document or file name/location). IV. Figure legend. A figure legend briefly explains the significance of the image and gives technical information that is needed to interpret the image (e.g., scale bar = 10 um). Overall Portfolio requirements 1) One laboratory exercise from each required biology course (Diversity of Life, Ecology, Cell, and Genetics and Evolution). 2) For Cell Biology (BIOL 201) and Genetics and Evolution (BIOL 202) the independent project must be included in the portfolio (can be used for requirement #1 as well). 3) Three laboratory exercises from elective biology classes OR one laboratory exercise from an elective class and the Tree of Life exercise. These images should represent different levels of biological organization. A total of seven entries is required, as is a short presentation about two portfolio entries, given during the student's senior year (see BIOL 499). Answering the above questions will be part of the normal write-up for the laboratory (every laboratory course will require one portfolio entry; the student later decides whether or not to keep that entry as part of his or her final portfolio). Because portfolio entries will be required in laboratory classes, they will be evaluated in the context of the experimental work for that lab. Senior portfolios will be evaluated by a committee of faculty members and five portfolios will be chosen to be highlighted on the department's website for the next year (as Kline, 1999, has done for images from his cell course). There will be two trained teaching assistants that will be dedicated to assisting with image capture and management. They will be available throughout the semester to help with imaging labs in different courses (including independent research projects). References Kline, D. 1999. Department of Biology. Kent State University. Cell Biology Microscopy Labs. |
