Practical training in biology I

About the laboratory course

'Fundamentals of Biology I' ('Grundlagen der Biologie I, 551-0128-00L) is a core laboratory course of the bachelor curricula of Biology, Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Sciences and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It is taught during the second semester for 8 hours weekly and attended by approximately 350 students. The course introduces the students to the basic experimental techniques used in the classical and modern molecular biosciences

CAL support

During the Covid-Pandemic CAL not only managed the moodle course of the practicals as usual but also helped develop virtual practicals which could be done when students were not allowed to attend live classes. We made sure to include as many practical aspects as possible and choose experiments which otherwise could not have been done in the lab (e.g. because of time, space or money constraints). In this virtual practical we also icluded external page self-made animations for a better understanding of the complex experimental setup and a pdf script of the whole experiment to have access to it after the lab course finished.

Impressions from the moodle course

moodle front page Introduction to the virtual practical about the MEGA-plate experiment First, we explain what was done in the actual experiment using self-made animations and talk about possible outcomes ... ... then we show the results of the experiment in detail and ask students to think about them ... ... we then take a detailed look on what was to be expected and what happened ... ... we also repeat some theoretical aspects and link them with the experiment ... ... students solve exercises and can read explanations to the correct answes on the following pages ... ... finally we also discuss details of the results which students might have missed.