Center for Integration of Science and Industry, Bentley University, Waltham, MA 02452.
Department of Natural & Applied Sciences, Bentley University, Waltham, MA 02452.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2018 Dec;17(4):ar61. doi: 10.1187/cbe.17-03-0057.
The majority of students who enroll in undergraduate biology courses will eventually be employed in non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) business occupations. This work explores how representations of industry in undergraduate biology textbooks could impact STEM learning for these students and their ability to apply this learning in their chosen work. We used text analysis to identify passages with references to industry in 29 textbooks. Each passage was categorized for relevance to health or environment, for implied positive or negative connotations, and for descriptions of synergy or conflict between science and industry. We found few passages describing applications of STEM learning in non-STEM business occupations and a paucity of content to support context-based learning for students aiming at business careers. A significant number of passages embodied negative connotations regarding industry. Notable passages highlighted irregular or fraudulent business practices or included simplistic caricatures of business practice. We discuss how the representation of industry in these textbooks may impact student engagement, context-based learning, the ability of students to critically apply STEM learning in industry or business occupations, and heuristics that guide intuitive perceptions about the intersection between science and industry.
大多数修读本科生物学课程的学生最终将从事非 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）商业职业。这项工作探讨了本科生物学教科书中对工业的描述如何影响这些学生的 STEM 学习以及他们将所学知识应用于所选工作的能力。我们使用文本分析在 29 本教科书中确定了提到工业的段落。每个段落都根据与健康或环境的相关性、隐含的积极或消极含义以及科学与工业之间的协同或冲突描述进行了分类。我们发现很少有段落描述 STEM 学习在非 STEM 商业职业中的应用，也很少有内容支持学生的基于背景的学习，这些学生的目标是商业职业。许多段落对工业都带有负面含义。值得注意的是，一些段落突出了不规则或欺诈性的商业行为，或包含对商业实践的简单化漫画。我们讨论了这些教科书中对工业的描述如何影响学生的参与度、基于背景的学习、学生将 STEM 学习批判性地应用于工业或商业职业的能力，以及指导关于科学与工业交叉点的直观感知的启发式方法。
