For biology majors taking an introductory bioinformatics course, segments focused on biology and genetics will be largely a review of concepts already encountered in their major. By contrast, for computer science students, even basic concepts in genetics may be unfamiliar. One strategy for a course with students from both groups is to present fundamental biological questions in the context of the challenges they pose for large-scale data analysis, then offer each group of students a set of suggested additional resources to help fill in gaps in their existing knowledge. In addition to enabling students from both groups to share in-common coursework, this approach will help students develop skills in identifying and studying what they need to learn, which is itself a crucial skill in bioinformatics, where researchers focused on data analysis often must learn about data-collection methods implemented by collaborators.