About...
Anatomy, physiology and general biology are traditionally taught in separate portions of a biology curriculum, and introductory A&P courses often lack an evolutionary biology emphasis. Penn State have developed a Plant and Animal Biology course taken by first- and second-year undergraduate biology majors that integrates plant and animal biology around common themes, such as physical support, gas exchange, and energy acquisition, with an emphasis on anatomy & physiology. Students study how plants and animals evolved solutions to shared challenges such as the transition to land and maintaining homeostasis in a terrestrial environment. Many of these solutions are surprisingly similar despite co-evolving separately. Other mechanisms can be traced back to the last eukaryotic common ancestor that gave rise to plants and animals.
The goal is to help students organize their understanding of biology around larger themes common across the life sciences, and to see plants and animals (including humans), not as unrelated entities relegated to artificial boxes within a curriculum, but as evolutionary cousins in a diverse family of intimately related organisms.
About the speaker:
John R. Waters, PhD
Teaching Professor
Biology
The Pennsylvania State University
John Waters is a professor in Penn State’s Biology Department who has taught undergraduate courses in anatomy & physiology, general biology, the history of anatomy, and pedagogy over the last twenty-eight years. In addition to teaching, John is interested in identifying effective teaching methods for lecture and laboratory settings, and enjoys collaborating with colleagues and students in Penn State’s Department of Educational Psychology who are interested in conducting research in biology education. John is a member of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) and is a member and president emeritus of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Socieity (HAPS). At Penn State, John currently serves as the Biology Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Education.
Did you know that we have a complete curriculum of ready-to-use lessons and labs for teaching anatomy online?
Created in partnership with ToLTech, the Lt Anatomy Collection includes 23+ lessons and labs that feature media-rich dissection and histology images and videos for teaching and assessments. These include cadaveric dissection images, animal organ dissection videos and images, exploration of anatomical models - plus a whole lot more!
See here for more information about the collection or to preview one of the lessons! »
Additional Resources:
How to Improve Digital Literacy in Course Design »
Resources for Educators: The HAPS Anatomy Learning Outcomes »
10 Tips for Teaching Online – How to successfully teach remotely and keep your students engaged »
Lt Anatomy Collection: See inside our Bone and Cartilage Histology Lab »