  here's more to becoming a biologist than learning how to handle a micropipette
and centrifuge. Students also must learn to work at a crowded lab bench,
speak before a group of researchers, and observe the standards of the profession.
Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, is one of a growing number
of colleges and universities making special efforts to teach such skills.
Even for students who do not go on in biology, this training can be a valuable
asset:
- Writing and speaking clearly. "Expressing yourself as a scientist
is very important," says David Beveridge, dean of natural sciences
and mathematics at Wesleyan. "You're entering a new community and
you need to learn the language." Students at Wesleyan make presentations
on recent scientific papers at weekly journal club meetings, discuss posters
on their research, and speak before larger gatherings. They also write
frequently, with many courses requiring several term papers. "They
have to learn how to do it," Beveridge says. "This isn't a spectator
sport."
- Working in groups. Students at schools like Wesleyan know how to succeed
individually, but they also must learn to work cooperatively in laboratories
and other scientific settings. To encourage this, some Wesleyan professors
have begun asking students to work in teams within the classroom. Most
students in Al Fry's organic chemistry class, for instance, solve problem
sets together, with their grades affected by the group's performance. Though
some students object to this approach, the majority prefer it, according
to Fry, who was inspired by Philip Uri Treisman's success with "cooperative
learning" in mathematics classes at Berkeley and elsewhere.
- Acting ethically. In 1990, assistant professor of chemistry David Westmoreland
began teaching a class that uses case studies to explore ethical issues
in science, such as research integrity and the use of laboratory animals,
and related social questions such as genetic testing. "There was a
real dearth of training materials," he recalls. No longer. Westmoreland
has built up an extensive resource base on these topics and recently received
a grant to share materials with the many colleges and universities that
now offer similar classes. Westmoreland's class, designed primarily for
science majors, is regularly filled to capacity.
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Professor Laura Grabel meets with biology students
at Wesleyan University.
 Enrollments are rising in biology classes across the country
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