Challenges of biology education for the 21st century - beyond bio2010 symposium, may 21, 2010

Challenges of UndergraduateBiology Education for the 21st Century

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIESNational Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine

National Research Council

Jay Labov National Academy of Sciences

National Research Council Washington, DC

[email protected] http://nationalacademies.org

AAAS Community College ForumLessons Learned About Biotechnology Education

February 17, 2011

PURPOSES OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

To advance science and technology

To advise government

on applications of science and engineering to policy

on policy for science, engineering, and health care

NAS ACT OF INCORPORATION: 1863

• Added to the end of the Act,“... shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art ...”

• “... but the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.”

As a result of the charter’s restrictions, the U.S. National Academies are a private, non-profit organization that is independent from the U.S. Government and whose work depends on volunteers.

Sources of studies:•Federal Government (Congress, Agencies)•States•Private Sources (e.g., Foundations)•Internal support (endowments)•Board-generated proposals

For access to all National Academies’ reports:

http://nap.edu

624 586 574 589 633

63206001 5908 5946

6340

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

FY '05 FY '06 FY '07 FY '08 FY '09

# Committees:

# Committee Members:

NUMBER OF NRC/IOM COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS *

FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 1, 2005 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2009

*Excludes Liaison Representatives, PGA's associateship and fellowship panels, and TRB's technical activities.

SOURCE: CMIS

Premise 1:

Improving Undergraduate Science Education is Not Rocket

Science

Premise 1:

Improving Undergraduate Science Education is Not Rocket

Science

It’s a LOT harder!

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is.

A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

Wayne Gretzky

Premise 2:

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Given the radical changes in the nature of the science of biology and what we have

learned about effective ways to teach, this is an opportune time to address the

biology we teach so that it better represents the biology we do.

– Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology: Mobilizing the Community for Change, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education. www.visionandchange.org

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NRC Board on Life Sciences (2003)Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists

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NRC Board on Life Sciences

(2009).

A New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution

American Association for

the Advancement of

Science

National Science

Foundation(2010)

Vision and Change in

Undergraduate Education

National Research Council (2002)

Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools

NRC Board on Life

Sciences (2003)Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists

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A New Biology for the 21st Century:Addressing & Affecting Urgent Problems

• FOOD:FOOD: Nearly a billion Nearly a billion undernourished in ’07; still increasing, undernourished in ’07; still increasing, especially where the food supply is especially where the food supply is already inadequatealready inadequate

• ENVIRONMENT:ENVIRONMENT: Human activities Human activities are stressing, altering and destroying are stressing, altering and destroying ecosystems on which we relyecosystems on which we rely

• ENERGY:ENERGY: Transportation fuels Transportation fuels depend almost fully on limited non-depend almost fully on limited non-renewable resourcesrenewable resources

• HEALTH:HEALTH: Healthcare decisions based Healthcare decisions based on statistics; rely on costly on statistics; rely on costly technologies that may not benefit a technologies that may not benefit a given individualgiven individual

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A New Biology for the 21st Century: 4 areas of interdisciplinary focus

• Food– Generate food plants to adapt and

grow sustainably in changing environments

• Environment– Understand and sustain ecosystem

function and biodiversity in the face of rapid change

• Energy – Expand sustainable alternatives to

fossil fuels

• Health– Understand individual health

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A New Biology for the 21st Century: Why Now?

A moment of unique opportunity –A moment of unique opportunity –

• Integration of subdisciplines within Integration of subdisciplines within biologybiology

• Cross-discipline integration: life Cross-discipline integration: life science research by physical, science research by physical, computational, earth scientists, computational, earth scientists, engineersengineers

• Technological advances enable Technological advances enable biologists to collect data biologists to collect data unprecedented in quantity and unprecedented in quantity and qualityquality

• Past investments providing value Past investments providing value beyond what was expected beyond what was expected

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A New Biology for the 21st Century: Findings

• The New Biology Initiative provides an opportunity to attract students to science who want to solve real-world problems.

• The New Biologist is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and a “working fluency” in several.

• Highly developed quantitative skills will be increasingly important.

• Development and implementation of genuinely interdisciplinary undergraduate courses and curricula will both prepare students for careers as New Biology researchers and educate a new generation of science teachers well versed in New Biology approaches. (p. 89)

WHY CHANGE? WHY NOW?

Biology is in transition

Science education is in transition

Society is in transition

Increasing need for both broadly educated, integrative biology professionals as well as biologically literate citizens

Education must change to meet the potentials and demands of the new biology and to realize the promise of science to society in the future

C. Brewer, U MT, 2/2010

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Student-Centered Classrooms and Learning Outcomes

• Introduce scientific process early and integrate it throughout all undergraduate biology courses

• Research experiences should be an integral component of biology education for all students, regardless of major

• Active, outcome-oriented, inquiry-driven and relevant courses

• Define learning goals and align assessments to focus on conceptual understanding - use data to improve and enhance learning

• Ignite the passion for learning in our students

C. Brewer, U MT, 2/2010

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• Engage us• Challenge us

• Help us develop critical thinking, analytical and communication skills

• Provide opportunities for research experiences and/or designing our own experiments

• Use analogies, NOT jargon• Make learning relevant• Give us ownership of our learning• Infect us with your enthusiasm about

the natural world• Make your learning goals

transparent to us

Frederico Unglaub, Student, Universityersity of Colorado

And Most Importantly: What Students Said…

… Tie what we’re learning into the Big Picture. Why is this important? Where did this come from (i.e., original literature)? Where does it fit in real life? And

how does this relate to what we’re learning in other classes? ….C. Brewer, U MT, 2/2010

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AP RedesignBiology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics (2013-16)

• Science Panels– Big Ideas / Unifying

Themes – Enduring

Understandings– Competencies– Evidence Models

(Formative Assessments)

• Evidence of Learning• The student can use representations

and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.

• The student can use mathematics appropriately

• The student can engage in scientific questioning

• The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence

• The student can work with scientific explanations and theories

• The student is able to transfer knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10129&page=R1

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AAMC/HHMI Committee Defines Scientific Competencies for Future Physicians

Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians recommends that medical and premedical education evolve from a static listing of courses to a dynamic set of competencies…This … will encourage the development of innovative and interdisciplinary science curricula, maintain scientific rigor, and allow premed students at the undergraduate level the flexibility to pursue a strong liberal arts education.

Association of American Medial Colleges & Howard Hughes Medical InstituteJune, 2009

http://www.hhmi.org/grants/sffp.html

In a great irony, the academy itself may be the last obstacle to improving the quality of biology education for all students. Thus, raising the profile of science education within biology departments and ensuring that the academic culture values both faculty teaching and student learning should be everyone’s highest priorities, truly a cultural change on many campuses.

C. Brewer, U MT, 2/2010