Please describe your project
All faculty in Biology and Marine Biology (BMB) at UNCW are expected to teach the BIO 495 Senior Seminar Course. The common learning outcomes for BIO 495 are that students will be able to: present biological information orally, critique biological literature, use primary literature to examine biological questions, and demonstrate competence in biological writing. BIO 495 also serves to meet the University requirement for Building Competencies/Information Literacy (IL), and thus aligns with the goals of ILFF. Additional courses taught within BMB, especially upper-level ones, include assignments or content related to the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. For example, BIO 330 (Microbiology) has undergraduate students compare and contrast scientific research presented in news articles versus primary literature (Frames 1 & 2), and BIO 564 (Biological Oceanography) requires graduate students to delve deeply into the data presented in primary literature and assess the motivations, biases, and arguments (Frames 4 & 5). This ILFF project aims to further integrate and expand IL directly into a BIO 495 course focused on “Marine Microbiology and Science Communication” and explore how to intentionally add IL components to other upper-level Biology courses at UNCW (specifically, BIO 330 and BIO 564).