The changing landscape of biological science has redefined expectations of students majoring in the life sciences. Literature suggests that traditional, lecture-based instruction is not effective in achieving the learning and skills outcomes expected of today’s biology majors. The Biological Science (BioSci) Program at Michigan State University (MSU) has begun implementation of a multi-year effort to reform its introductory biology course, BioSci 110, to address these changing needs. In all facets of the reform process, we are following a “backwards” curricular design model consisting of three stages: 1) identify desired results, 2) determine acceptable evidence, and 3) design learning experiences and instruction.
One of the goals of the reform project is to better prepare students for success in upper-division biology. Faculty have indicated that the lack of foundational knowledge and skills in students entering their upper-division courses has resulted in excessive time spent reviewing material not learned in the foundational biology sequence. Using backwards design, we interviewed faculty from upper-division courses that attract the largest proportions of BioSci 110 students, or for which BioSci 110 is required, to derive data that would define our “desired results” and “acceptable evidence” for our goal of improving students’ preparation for upper-division coursework.
Results/Conclusions
Faculty interviewees were asked to discuss learning barriers, including content/skills deficiencies they see in students entering their courses. To date, eight faculty interviews have been completed with responses ranging from careful and deliberate feedback about specific content objectives, such as modeling chromosomes during meiosis, to others focused on “failed” admissions policies that admit students unprepared for university. Interviewees were unanimous in citing students’ inability to: 1) make connections among related biological concepts, 2) transfer knowledge from other disciplines, such as chemistry and physics to biological problems, 3) apply fundamental biological principles to novel problems in novel contexts, and 4) see the “big picture”, or understand the relevance of biological concepts as they apply to real world issues. To further engage faculty in the reform process, interviewees were invited to collaborate in the design of specific assessments that measure progress toward reform goals and agreed to administer these assessments as students enter their courses. Data on student outcomes resulting from these assessments will serve to inform faculty about BioSci’s progress toward meeting their expectations for foundational biology and will serve as one component of a comprehensive evaluation plan to assess the overall efficacy of MSU’s introductory biology reform.
