Integrating quantitative thinking into an introductory biology course improves students' mathematical reasoning in biological contexts.

ABSTRACT: Recent calls for improving undergraduate biology education have emphasized the importance of students learning to apply quantitative skills to biological problems. Motivated by students' apparent inability to transfer their existing quantitative skills to biological contexts, we designed and taught an introductory molecular and cell biology course in which we integrated application of prerequisite mathematical skills with biology content and reasoning throughout all aspects of the course. In this paper, we describe the principles of our course design and present illustrative examples of course materials integrating mathematics and biology. We also designed an outcome assessment made up of items testing students' understanding of biology concepts and their ability to apply mathematical skil

SUBMITTER: Hester S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3940463 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature