Grinnell Gets TEDx Mention

Grinnell’s Introduction to Biological Inquiry courses got a shout out from Ariel Diaz at TEDx-Cambridge in September. Diaz is CEO of Boundless, which produces low-cost online textbooks coupled with study tools.

By inverting the standard educational process and beginning with big questions and real-world research challenges, Grinnell’s Biology 150 gets students excited about biology, Diaz says. It helps some students discover a love of biology and allows others, who have no desire to major in biology, to gain some appreciation and understanding of the subject.

Science classes elsewhere sometimes don’t instill the excitement, Diaz adds. “We’re forcing students to memorize seemingly irrelevant, and mundane, and boring details before allowing them to see the beauty and excitement intrinsic to every subject that they’re about to study.” 

He blames the “curse of knowledge,” by which experts in a field have difficulty understanding how their subject is understood by novices. Instead of beginning a course with rote memorization and a focus on minute details, Diaz advocates beginning a course with the beauty of a big picture and with lab work. From there, an inquiry-based learning path like Grinnell’s can lead organically to expertise and deep learning.