Curriculum DevelopmentHoward Hughes Medical Institute Grant at Gustavus Adolphus College

Starting the summer of 2010, two Gustavus students helped to develop a new curriculum for the Biology and Chemistry introductory courses at Gustavus. They worked hand-in-hand to make the courses more active, interdisciplinary, and engaging. Keisha Bates, a senior Biology major that worked on this project says, “We wanted to create labs that drew connections to the "real" world.”

The students helped incorporate new technology that Gustavus has, such as cameras that can record pictures and video through the microscopes, into the labs as well. They took learning beyond the classroom and incorporated some laboratory work that involved the students going out to work in the Carl Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus. Overall they created four labs that were added into the Biology and Chemistry lab manuals and modified three existing Biology labs.

"I feel as if this job gave me the opportunity to truly put what I have learned as a student in science into action and use this knowledge and skill set in extremely applicable ways."
—Keisha Bates, summer Curriculum Development student