Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2011 Fall;10(3):259-67. doi: 10.1187/cbe.10-11-0137.
Incorporation of mathematics into biology curricula is critical to underscore for undergraduate students the relevance of mathematics to most fields of biology and the usefulness of developing quantitative process skills demanded in modern biology. At our institution, we have made significant changes to better integrate mathematics into the undergraduate biology curriculum. The curricular revision included changes in the suggested course sequence, addition of statistics and precalculus as prerequisites to core science courses, and incorporating interdisciplinary (math-biology) learning activities in genetics and zoology courses. In this article, we describe the activities developed for these two courses and the assessment tools used to measure the learning that took place with respect to biology and statistics. We distinguished the effectiveness of these learning opportunities in helping students improve their understanding of the math and statistical concepts addressed and, more importantly, their ability to apply them to solve a biological problem. We also identified areas that need emphasis in both biology and mathematics courses. In light of our observations, we recommend best practices that biology and mathematics academic departments can implement to train undergraduates for the demands of modern biology.
将数学纳入生物课程对于向本科生强调数学与生物学大多数领域的相关性以及培养现代生物学所需的定量过程技能的重要性至关重要。在我们的机构中，我们进行了重大改革，以便更好地将数学纳入本科生物学课程。课程修订包括改变建议的课程顺序，将统计学和微积分作为核心科学课程的先决条件，并将跨学科（数学生物学）学习活动纳入遗传学和动物学课程。在本文中，我们描述了为这两门课程开发的活动以及用于衡量生物学和统计学学习情况的评估工具。我们区分了这些学习机会在帮助学生提高对所涉及的数学和统计概念的理解以及更重要的是将它们应用于解决生物学问题的能力方面的有效性。我们还确定了生物学和数学课程都需要强调的领域。根据我们的观察结果，我们建议生物学和数学学术部门可以实施的最佳实践，以为现代生物学的需求培养本科生。
