Track Descriptions Offered for Biology!

The Biology discipline offers two tracks of coursework: a 200 level sequence of in-depth courses for majors going into the field of Biology, and non-science majors courses that provide transfer credit as a lecture lab 4-credit science class.

General Biology courses fulfill a science requirement for non-science majors. General biology is taught either as a survey or through term-long special emphasis classes. For each quarter, several emphasis classes are available Note: BI 101, BI 102, BI 103 course numbers have suffixes to indicate different special emphasis topics. BI 101A, BI 101B, BI 101C, BI 101D, etc., are considered equivalent. Thus, only one of the BI 101's and one of the BI 102's and one of the BI 103's qualify toward degree requirements for Science credits.

The non-majors courses are grouped as either 101, 102, or 103 designations. The theme and general concepts of each group are different in their coverage of fundamental biological principles: 101 emphasizes cellular processes, 102 deals with systems within living organisms, and 103 addresses the concepts of evolution, ecology, and the diversity of life. Within each group, there is a "core" course called "Survey of Biology", which covers the broadest spectrum of topics and concepts. There are also "emphasis" courses, which teach the theme of the group in the context of a specialized area of biology. Marine biology, birds, botany, genetics, and animal behavior are a few of the many specialized emphasis classes. The biggest problem this situation presents for students is deciding which 101, 102 or 103 to sign up for! They are all great and we regularly get students enrolled in classes just for the fun of it!

If you have any questions, contact the instructors directly from our faculty page. We are available to discuss your academic needs with you at any time.