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| The Main Sequence
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The Overall Goals
The Main Sequence is our careful, week by week, thorough review of Physics, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biology. Each topic gets its careful time as the wheel of the Main Sequence turns one time the entire course. The sequence of topics in the Main Sequence is untraditional though, different than any course before this one. The order of the treatments of physical and biological science topics in the Main Sequence is carefully designed to work within the spiraling and interdisciplinary Wisebridge MCAT Course. In a spiraling curriculum, you are exposed to important concepts early, and, as the curriculum progresses, you return to those concepts again and again, expanding on the foundation established earlier. You will not only progress through a Main Sequence of study in this course, but also through Advance Organizing and the Talks. This way of talking about learning came out of a small group teaching environment, which I hope to recreate in this on-line course. I know from experience that this approach can help students strengthen their undergraduate sciences from the ground up by leading to conceptual break-throughs. |
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"My undergraduate sciences are fine!", many students believe, "My grades are excellent. I just need a straightforward review." Maybe so, but as a teacher in a small group environment over the years, I have learned a great deal through my experience working closely with many premedical students from many backgrounds. Although I would not claim that our educational system is failing catastrophically, I have seen that even the most elite students at prestigious institutions experience a revolution in their scientific understanding when they subject their knowledge to interdisciplinary review. I believe that you have enormous untapped potential for scientific understanding. As the course begins and you start to see what I mean, you will be taking your first steps to a much higher MCAT score than you may have thought possible.
You are ready for an interdisciplinary approach
As a group, premedical students are capable of achieving a much higher level of scientific understanding than the academic world is currently helping them achieve. There are structural problems in undergraduate science education. Many professors would like to see the general sciences taught in a more interdisciplinary way, but in standard practice the general science courses are modular and interchangeable in their sequence. Some students take Biology first. Some take Chemistry first. Some take Physics first. General Chemistry is almost always taught without Physics being a prerequisite, and first year Biology is usually taught with very limited physical science background. Instead, I believe that premedical students should learn the sciences in a unified, interdisciplinary curriculum. This would build a much stronger foundation of understanding. If universities decided to focus on improving premedical education, they might begin offering the basic sciences as a two year (forty semester-hour total) spiraling, unified course in which General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry develop naturally from the Physics, and the physical sciences are available in the discussion of Biology.
Although widespread change of entrenched academic practice is not on the table, the Wisebridge MCAT Course uses these principles to improve MCAT preparation. In the Wisebridge MCAT Course, the Main Sequence topic sequence reflects an improved syllabus for the undergraduate premedical science curriculum. At this stage in your academic career, having completed the premedical curriculum, you have an advantage for this kind of program, the benefit of the knowledge you gained in the lecture courses. Now let us put it all together. You are primed for an interdisciplinary approach. MCAT preparation is your chance to deepen your scientific understanding. If you are intelligent and you work hard, you will not only achieve a much higher MCAT score, you will be ready to excel in medical school.
How the Main Sequence Works
Below are versions of the traditional outlines of the scientific disciplines that reflect the order of topics in the standard undergraduate courses. These outlines represent the standard, tried-and-true way, reflecting extremely important ways developed over the last two centuries for organizing scientific knowledge. In fact, you should be able to reproduce these outlines from memory after several weeks of the course. Read them carefully and slowly. Try to create a mental picture of the phenomena or model systems described within each subtopic.
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In contrast to the traditional order presented above, which showed four separate disciplines, the Main Sequence sequence below combines the disciplines within a unified sequence. This is the order of the careful Main Sequence treatment of the subject matter in the Wisebridge MCAT Course. Week by week, for twenty weeks, four or five topics each week, the course meticulously covers the knowledge from the beginning to the end of this sequence. As you read through thoughtfully and slowly, try to see one, unified science. Also, bear in mind that the course will be approaching the knowledge not only sequentially but also concertedly, regularly previewing later material and reviewing earlier material, coalescing toward break-throughs. In other words, the Main Sequence is not only a sequence but also a concept map.
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Even though that's quite a bit to think about, there's more ahead. The next chapter is a bit dry, but the one after that has pictures! Don't stop now!
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Next Orientation Topic: Advance Organizers
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