Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

1. Fieldwork Statement

Fieldwork is a professional competence in many areas of Biology. Standard field practices include measurements of abiotic and biotic components. Fieldwork includes use of all the senses to make observations in natural and built environments. Field training may include developing skills in site characterization, measurement and data collection, application of key terms and concepts, species identification, and observation. Certain protocols may require use of equipment, chemicals, and expensive gear. Field training is experiential often leading to unique sets of observations/data in particular locations. Fieldwork may include inherent risks (uneven terrain, off-trail work with map & compass, variable weather, insects, environmental irritants, travel, stress, etc.). Fieldwork can be physically challenging and may require overland travel on foot or unusual means to field points, carrying field equipment (as well as food, water, and safety equipment), taking measurements under duress (learning new protocols, requiring remaining in an unusual posture or position for a length of time, timing pressures for certain procedures, holding organisms, variable weather, etc.), survival skills, orienteering, and so on.

2. Evolution Statement

To clarify the teaching of evolution and its place in the classroom, the Portland Community College Biology Departments stand by the following statements about what is science and how the theory of evolution is the major organizing theory in the discipline of the biological sciences.

1. Science is a fundamentally nondogmatic and self-correcting investigatory process. In science, a theory is neither a guess, dogma, nor myth. The theories developed through scientific investigation are not decided in advance, but can be and often are modified and revised through observation and experimentation.
2. The theory of evolution meets the criteria of a scientific theory. In contrast, creation "science" is neither self-examining nor investigatory. Creation "science" is not considered a legitimate science, but a form of religious advocacy. This position is established by legal precedence (Webster v. New Lenox School District #122, 917 F. 2d 1004).

Biology instructors of Portland Community College will teach the theory of evolution not as absolute truth but as the most widely accepted scientific theory on the diversity of life. We, the Biology Subject Area Curriculum Committee at Portland Community College, therefore stand with such organizations as the National Association of Biology Teachers in opposing the inclusion of pseudo-sciences in our science curricula.

Students should be able to:
 

1. Apply an understanding of basic ecological principles to the plant and animal species living on the Oregon Coast to appreciate the complexity; of factors that influence the "web of life" and our place within it.
2. Apply a basic knowledge of geological processes that formed this region to the impact this geology has on the biological organisms found here.
3. Use scientific field research equipment
4. Communicate effectively orally and in writing.

Course outcome assessment will be achieved using a combination of the following: field journals, reflective journals, group projects, individual projects, quizzes, tests, homework assignments, presentations, papers, and self-assessment of group dynamics.

Concepts and Themes:
 

1. Field Sampling
2. Plant Identification
3. Animal Identification
4. Measuring Environmental Parameters
5. Geological Processes
6. Coastal Terrestrial Ecology
7. Coastal Marine Ecology
8. Human Impact (historical and present day)

Process Skills:
 

1. Read
2. Write
3. Field and Laboratory Techniques and Equipment
   1. use taxonomic keys
   2. use equipment to characterize plant communities
4. Locating and accessing information
5. Think critically
6. Collaborate with peers-work effectively in groups
7. Present (both oral and written) conclusions logically