We decided in Bicore long ago that we wanted writing to be a very important part because part of science is expressing your ideas and putting them out there to be criticized by other scientists. So that—in our course, for example—when students do these projects then they have to write them up like a scientific paper. We grade them and analyze them very critically. Students don’t like having their writing criticized, but what they tell us years later is that the most important thing they got out of the program was being able to write really well.

Ann Burgess is the Director Emeritus of the Biology Core Curriculum. She earned her B.S. in chemistry from UW-Madison and her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University. She was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987 to 2002.

Biology Core Curriculum is four semester intercollege honors program that provides a broad and integrated background for students interested in any field of biological science. She is interested in undergraduate science education with a particular accent on laboratory and filed experiences that absorb students in process of science.

Ann Burgess is running in several UW-Madison and national efforts to advance science education, including the BioQUEST Consortium and the National Institute of Science Education's College Level One team.