Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, USA.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
Bull Math Biol. 2020 May 19;82(6):63. doi: 10.1007/s11538-020-00740-z.
Quantitative biology is a rapidly advancing field in the biological sciences, particularly given the rise of large datasets and computer processing capabilities that have continually expanded over the past 50 years. Thus, the question arises, How should K-12 biology teachers incorporate quantitative biology skills into their biology curriculum? The teaching of quantitative biology has not been readily integrated into undergraduate biology curricula that impact preservice teachers. This has potential to cascade effects downward into the quality of learning about quantitative biology that can be expected in K-12 contexts. In this paper, we present the perspectives of a mathematics educator, a science educator, and two biologists, and discuss how we have personally incorporated aspects of quantitative reasoning into our courses. We identify some common challenges relevant to expanding implementation of quantitative reasoning in undergraduate biology courses in order to serve the needs of preservice teachers-both in their disciplinary courses and methods courses. For example, time constraints, math pedagogical content knowledge, and personal views about the relevance of quantitative principles in biology teaching and learning can impact how and to what extent they become implemented in curricula. In addition, although national standards at the K-12 level do address quantitative reasoning, the emphasis and guidance provided are sparser than for other content standards. We predict that both K-12 standards and guidelines for undergraduate education will only increase in their emphasis on quantitative skills as computation, "big data," and statistical modeling are increasingly becoming requisite skills for biologists.
定量生物学是生物学科学中一个迅速发展的领域，特别是考虑到在过去 50 年中，大型数据集和计算机处理能力不断扩大。因此，出现了这样一个问题：K-12 生物学教师应该如何将定量生物学技能纳入他们的生物学课程？定量生物学的教学尚未被纳入影响职前教师的本科生物学课程中。这有可能对 K-12 环境中定量生物学学习的质量产生级联效应。在本文中，我们介绍了一位数学教育家、一位科学教育家以及两位生物学家的观点，并讨论了我们个人如何将定量推理的各个方面纳入我们的课程。我们确定了一些与在本科生物学课程中扩展定量推理实施相关的共同挑战，以满足职前教师在他们的学科课程和方法课程中的需求。例如，时间限制、数学教学内容知识以及个人对生物学教学和学习中定量原理相关性的看法，都会影响他们在课程中实施的方式和程度。此外，尽管 K-12 层面的国家标准确实涉及定量推理，但与其他内容标准相比，提供的重点和指导要少得多。我们预测，随着计算、“大数据”和统计建模越来越成为生物学家的必备技能，K-12 标准和本科教育指南对定量技能的重视程度只会增加。
