Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2013 Fall;12(3):429-40. doi: 10.1187/cbe.13-02-0017.
Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing general education (GE) graduation requirements. Biology textbooks for these three audiences present a topic scope and sequence that correlates with the topic scope and importance ratings of the biology content specifications for the MCAT regardless of the intended audience. Texts for "nonmajors," GE courses appear derived directly from their publisher's majors text. Topic scope and sequence of GE texts reflect those of "their" majors text and, indirectly, the MCAT. MCAT term density of GE texts equals or exceeds that of their corresponding majors text. Most American universities require a GE curriculum to promote a core level of academic understanding among their graduates. This includes civic scientific literacy, recognized as an essential competence for the development of public policies in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Deriving GE biology and related science texts from majors texts designed to meet very different learning objectives may defeat the scientific literacy goals of most schools' GE curricula.
大多数美国学院和大学提供入门生物学课程，以满足三类本科生的需求：生物学及相关科学专业的学生，其中许多人将成为生物医学研究人员；满足医学院入学要求并为医学院入学考试（MCAT）做准备的医学生；以及完成通识教育（GE）毕业要求的学生。这三类受众的生物学教材呈现的主题范围和顺序与 MCAT 的生物学内容规范的主题范围和重要性评级相关，而不论受众是谁。为“非专业人士”编写的 GE 课程的教材似乎直接源自出版商的专业教材。GE 教材的主题范围和顺序反映了他们“自己”的专业教材和 MCAT 的主题范围和顺序。GE 教材的 MCAT 术语密度与相应的专业教材相等或超过。大多数美国大学都要求开设通识教育课程，以促进其毕业生具备核心学术水平。这包括公民科学素养，这被公认为在日益科学和技术化的世界中制定公共政策的必要能力。从旨在满足截然不同的学习目标的专业教材中衍生出 GE 生物学和相关科学教材，可能会使大多数学校的 GE 课程的科学素养目标落空。
