Spring 2027

Exploring Biology

Introduction to core biological concepts, research methods, and career paths while supporting first-year student transition to UW-Madison.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 8

Past student reviews · Cara Theisen

Reviewers reported the workload was excessive for a two-credit class, with one student spending more time on this course than on their four-credit major. Another described the burden as extreme with very little payout.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and describe the five core concepts of biology (Evolution (E), Pathways and Transformations of Energy and Matter (PTEM), Information Flow, Exchange, and Storage (IFES), Structure and Function (SF), and Systems (S)).

  • Apply the biology core concepts from molecular to ecological scales.

  • Gain skills in scientific thinking and communication, including asking questions, interpreting data, evaluating claims, and reading scientific literature.

  • Appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusion in science, including how a diversity of individuals promotes a richer understanding of science and makes scientific research more equitable.

  • Identify how biologists contribute to society and how the people of Wisconsin are impacted by biology.

  • Explore the breadth of careers related to biology.

  • Identify resources, opportunities, and services available at UW–Madison.

  • Describe the skills of a successful college student, including organizational and study skills, critical thinking, appropriate interactions with peers/instructors, and self-awareness.

  • Reflect on academic, career, and personal goals (at a level appropriate for a first-year student).

  • Discuss complex issues with peers and instructors, considering multiple evidence-based perspectives (e.g., faculty research, current issues in a field, or challenges related to college and career success).

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

First year students or first year transfer students only

  • First year students or first year transfer students only
INTEGSCI 100

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • First year students or first year transfer students only

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CARA THEISEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Cara Theisen

Students described a two-hour weekly class where less than half the time was spent on actual biology. One reviewer noted the content was below high school level, while another mentioned building strong connections with peers.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.86 GPA, 92.4% A/AB (n=145 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.94 GPA, 96.7% A/AB (n=152 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.86 GPA, 93.3% A/AB (n=149 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Cara Theisen

Reviewers reported the workload was excessive for a two-credit class, with one student spending more time on this course than on their four-credit major. Another described the burden as extreme with very little payout.

Past student reviews · Cara Theisen

Multiple students found the assignments to be busy work that felt disconnected from the learning objectives. Some reviewers expressed frustration with the instructor's teaching style, describing the interactions as condescending.

Topics

  • Five core concepts of biology: Evolution, PTEM, IFES, SF, and Systems
  • Diversity of bioscience careers
  • Resources, opportunities, and biological sciences landscape at UW-Madison

Skills

  • Scientific thinking, data interpretation, claim evaluation, and reading scientific literature
  • Organizational and study skills, critical thinking, and peer/instructor interaction

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "dfcbf17a5ebdf4cf742a4c0ec9b18666458723b026ec9d18998cb79a5e8fe725",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}