Development and Assessment of Modules to Integrate Quantitative Skills in Introductory Biology Courses

dc.contributorBatzli, Janet
dc.contributor.authorHoffman, Kathleen
dc.contributor.authorLeupen, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorDowell, Kathy
dc.contributor.authorKephart, Kerrie
dc.contributor.authorLeips, Jeff
dc.date.accessioned2019-02-18T15:29:47Z
dc.date.available2019-02-18T15:29:47Z
dc.date.issued2017-10-13
dc.description.abstractRedesigning undergraduate biology courses to integrate quantitative reasoning and skill development is critical to prepare students for careers in modern medicine and scientific research. In this paper, we report on the development, implementation, and assessment of stand-alone modules that integrate quantitative reasoning into introductory biology courses. Modules are designed to improve skills in quantitative numeracy, interpreting data sets using visual tools, and making inferences about biological phenomena using mathematical/statistical models. We also examine demographic/background data that predict student improvement in these skills through exposure to these modules. We carried out pre/postassessment tests across four semesters and used student interviews in one semester to examine how students at different levels approached quantitative problems. We found that students improved in all skills in most semesters, although there was variation in the degree of improvement among skills from semester to semester. One demographic variable, transfer status, stood out as a major predictor of the degree to which students improved (transfer students achieved much lower gains every semester, despite the fact that pretest scores in each focus area were similar between transfer and nontransfer students). We propose that increased exposure to quantitative skill development in biology courses is effective at building competency in quantitative reasoning.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis project was funded in part by a National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant (1T36GM078008) to Lasse Lindahl (UMBC), and an award from the HHMI to the UMBC under the Precollege and Undergraduate Science Training Program.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.15-09-0186en_US
dc.format.extent12 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2hqc8-svbq
dc.identifier.citationKathleen Hoffman, Sarah Leupen, Kathy Dowell, Kerrie Kephart, and Jeff Leips, Development and Assessment of Modules to Integrate Quantitative Skills in Introductory Biology Courses, CBE—Life Sciences Education, Vol. 15, No. 2 , https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.15-09-0186en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.15-09-0186
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/12810
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherThe American Society for Cell Biologyen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Science Education Research Unit (SERU)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Mathematics and Statistics Department
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Development Center (FDC)
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)*
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/*
dc.subjectdata setsen_US
dc.subjectvisual toolsen_US
dc.subjectdemographic variableen_US
dc.titleDevelopment and Assessment of Modules to Integrate Quantitative Skills in Introductory Biology Coursesen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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