Cell Biology

This a sophomore-level course for students who have taken a freshman level General Biology course and is designed with the following goals:

  1. To build on students’ existing knowledge of the molecular composition, structure, and organization of cells.
  2. To develop students’ conceptual understanding of molecular principles and mechanisms that govern cell behavior.
  3. To introduce students to several key tools and techniques used in contemporary cell biology research.
  4. To cultivate an integrated understanding of goals 1-3, through which students will be able to think critically about how progress in research is made in the fields of cell biology, molecular biology, and biomedical research.

I teach the course in a flipped classroom structure that entails the following steps for each class:

  1. Ahead of each class period, students are expected to watch a set of “Video Lectures” corresponding to the topic being covered that day. Students are provided a list of questions (called “Guide Questions”) that they should be able to answer after watching and studying the Video Lecture content. These questions are intended to provide guidance on key terms and concepts students should understand and learn from each Video Lecture.
  2. Each class period begins with a 10-minute quiz on the material covered in the corresponding Video Lectures. The quiz questions are then immediately reviewed and questions from the students are addressed.
  3. The remainder of class time is spent addressing students’ questions, applying material from the Video Lectures to new examples, and/or group work on Problem Sets to reinforce and/or expand upon concepts from the Video Lectures.

Within this section, you can find the following materials for my Cell Biology course:

  1. A course schedule that lists the sequence of topics covered categorized as “modules”.
  2. Links to my Video Lectures on YouTube organized by module.
  3. PDF documents of the Guide Questions for each module.
  4. Supplemental materials for Problem Sets or other activities conducted during class time for each module.