Why do we teach this course in this format?  Because it is a proven way to teach science more effectively than the traditional lecture/lab combination! There are many pieces of evidence that bolster this conclusion, and one of them is shown in this figure from M. Sundberg, "Assessing the effectiveness of an investigative laboratory to confront common misconceptions in life sciences", chapter 9 in Student-Active Science: Models of Innovation in College Science Teaching, edited by A.P. McNeal and C. D'Avanzo, Saunders College Publishing, 1997. Sundberg compared learning of 11 key concepts by LSU students in a traditional lecture/lab situation to learning of those same concepts by students in an "investigative" or "active-learning" environment similar to our studio format. In ALL cases, students in the investigative class learned more and retained it longer. So if the goal is to learn Biology, this active-learning format is superior.