Departmental Mission and Educational Goals
The mission of the Department of Biology and Geology at Baldwin Wallace University is:
- To provide students with a strong, broad based foundation in the fundamental principles of biology. That foundation will include an understanding of life's defining properties and the reasons for the existence of tremendous diversity in organismal form and function.
- To foster independent, analytical thinking.
- To convey a sense of excitement concerning Biology and its role in making discoveries that contribute to society and to our understanding of the natural world.
- To instill an appreciation of the challenges of Biology and its relevance to societal issues.
- To provide Biology Majors with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to succeed in employment and post-graduate study.
- To carefully advise each student concerning academic and career choices and to provide opportunities for students to gain practical experience that will aid in the attainment of career goals.
- To provide significant hands-on experience in biological investigation.
Educational goals for the biology major
The educational goals of the department are to provide students with the following skills and knowledge:
SKILLS. We wish to enable our students to develop proficiency to:
- Discern patterns in nature and formulate relevant questions and hypotheses.
- Conduct scientific inquiry in both the laboratory and the field
- Think critically and evaluate the merit of scientific information
- Assemble information and communicate it effectively, both orally and in writing.
- Use scientific equipment safely and efficiently
KNOWLEDGE. We wish to provide students with opportunity, guidance, and assistance for acquiring knowledge and understanding of:
- The nature of science and its ethical and social implications
- Evolution and the theory of natural selection as the basis for modern biology
- Biodiversity from its molecular and cellular basis to the organismal, population and community levels of organization
- Ecological principles and their relevance to sustainable human societies
- The molecular composition, structure, and physiological processes of cells
- The processes of cell differentiation and organismal development
- Organismal form and function (across the kingdoms)
- The mechanism of inheritance and its role in maintaining organismal integrity and variability.