Hi all, I responded with a few details already to Howard. But I’ll just generally say that if you are thinking about curricular redesign, I’d like to suggest backward design based on concepts and competencies that employers need and which have been well identified by many national level reports. For example, Vision and Change. Vision and Change identifies 6 vital competencies for all biology students:
1. ABILITY TO APPLY THE PROCESS OF SCIENCE 2. ABILITY TO USE QUANTITATIVE REASONING 3. ABILITY TO USE MODELING AND SIMULATION 4. ABILITY TO TAP INTO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF SCIENCE 5. ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES 6. ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY Well-designed Calculus courses can help you reach many of these goals. More traditional courses in calculus may not meet these goals. I encourage you to consider if you advocate (as you do below) for its exclusion, that you consider alternatives to help students meet these same competencies or consider reaching out to your colleagues in mathematics (which I know well) to brainstorm how to better meet the needs of your department. Carrie From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Neufeld, Howard S. Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 8:09 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Should Calculus Be Required of All Ecology/Biology Majors? Dear All - I am participating in a study here at Appalachian State University about whether we should restructure the mathematics and statistics requirements for our biology/ecology majors. For example, should we require all majors to take an entire semester of calculus? I have written an explanation of why we are looking into this, and you can read the essay by going to this link on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxpSVO5IUz-EMGdwU1lDNjhSRFE?usp=sharing<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F0BxpSVO5IUz-EMGdwU1lDNjhSRFE%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=2mAiVUB0M6YbaNE1aAJgYOx9WYBpHNr2JDGibd3pLoM%3D&reserved=0> I would welcome comments from those interested in this subject, which would help us out here at Appalachian State in our discussions of this important subject. Thanks! Howie Neufeld -- Dr. Howard S. Neufeld, Professor Director, Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center (SAEREC) Chair, Appalachian Interdisciplinary Atmospheric Research Group (AppalAIR) Mailing Address: Department of Biology 572 Rivers St. Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 Tel: 828-262-2683; Fax 828-262-2127 Websites: Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/faculty-staff/104<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiology.appstate.edu%2Ffaculty-staff%2F104&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=RWMTyWJBUOKoocq0DBChu9WVGSS0os%2BkgMedyp%2BpuTU%3D&reserved=0> Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.appstate.edu%2F~neufeldhs%2Findex.html&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=9VBX90HqWyCtYMY9K%2Bs2XcwPS1EE9pTumQYhUjEhbr8%3D&reserved=0> SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsaerec.appstate.edu&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=GeP3Lm4JmJH49rGjmcyyu9RW00FJXbHH1e%2BZqnaAWvA%3D&reserved=0> AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fappalair.appstate.edu&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=pfCLgJQPqc4kTCoFLsSh1%2BGTl8FyZdWrhFkSsgA2a3U%3D&reserved=0> Fall Colors: Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiology.appstate.edu%2Ffall-colors&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=LLhD7R%2F0vnSKnv0WV7qCmAgu4KCw411MMfhoxHGk0ys%3D&reserved=0> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFallColorGuy&data=01%7C01%7Cceaton%40UNITY.EDU%7C456a9cd7a652468872f308d3f7097b83%7Ca5df695b72854f398c84d1c50676d682%7C1&sdata=XGU2qZJr0hGZASjIPMco0l%2FsZcomP%2FpJPS7pHKj9jxI%3D&reserved=0>
