BIOG 1500

Investigative Biology Laboratory

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This course is designed to provide lab experience with an emphasis on the processes of scientific investigation and to promote collaboration, communication, and literacy in science. This lab course aims to teach skills, especially critical thinking and problem solving, that students can apply in research laboratories at Cornell and after graduation. These skills go far beyond learning how to use laboratory equipment. The course introduces students to a laboratory research environment, teamwork, hypothesis formation, experimental design, statistics, and research ethics. Students gain information and science literacy skills and practice many forms of science communication, from presentations to proposal writing and scientific poster preparation. Students first fill their scientific toolbox and then develop the capacity to solve increasingly challenging problems more independently.

Distribution Requirements (BIO-AG, OPHLS-AG)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2026SP, 2025FA, 2025SU, 2025SP

Learning Outcomes

• Design hypothesis-based experiments, choose appropriate statistical test(s), analyze data, and interpret results.
• Demonstrate mastery of lab techniques and scientific methods that can be applied across biological systems and scales.
• Find and evaluate relevant scientific information using appropriate library tools.
• Effectively contribute to work within their research groups and reflect on the ethics, benefits, and challenges of collaborative work.
• Use discovery science to explore patterns in nature and apply accuracy and precision to the scientific process.
• Apply fundamental biological information to increasingly novel and complex situations.
• Author and produce scientific content using digital, oral, visual, audio, and written communication formats.

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