Integrating major course ideas into coherent themes is a big deal for me. I introduced the topic here. One that I really enjoy is teaching biology with the flu virus (follow the link for resources associated with discussion below). Briefly, influenza attaches to the surface of your cells through specific interactions, is internalized, and then all hell breaks loose when you pump protons into the resulting vesicle. You’re trying to digest it. Its waiting for a sign it’s inside.
Category: Themes
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Flu virus: pH, organelles, proteins, drugs
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One ring to rule them all: teaching biology through themes
The piecemeal presentation of biology found in most introductory textbooks doesn’t reflect modern thinking about how folks learn, and frankly doesn’t make sense on the face of it. The average textbook starts teaching biology with a summary of all the chemistry that will be needed within the book (despite the fact that some of it [looking at you, pH] won’t appear for another dozen or more chapters, then summarizes all the biomolecules and their roles–a summary of things not yet taught. There must be a better way; read on to see one model using hemoglobin.(I’m releasing this because it’s pretty dense already, but hope to come back and add more links, info)