I am fascinated by this discussion and would love to hear more points of view. As far as carrie's excellent post, I guess I am not sure why one would expect a Calculus course to do her 6 points any more than many other classes? I was required to take two terms of calculus as an undergrad Zoology major back when there were such majors, plus a year of physics. We had to take a year of physical Chemistry before we could take Biology, and then could only enroll in Biology if we simultaneously took Organic Chem. It always seemed to me that a LOT of these classes were more about getting rid of people than educating them. Weirdly, stats was NOT required. In all the years since I have used calculus (briefly) in a course on theoretical population biology, I use Chemistry primarily when i teach physiology, but professionally I use Stats all the time. Talking with colleagues, this pattern seems by no means unique. Thoughts?
On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 11:04 AM, Joseph Russell <josephdrussel...@gmail.com > wrote: > I agree with Carrie here! When I was a Marine Biology undergrad at > Stockton University in NJ, we were required to take two semesters of > physics. However, the physics I and II courses that we took were not the > same as would have been taken by a physics major. Our Physics courses were > titled "physics for life sciences" which narrowed down the concepts to > those that applied to people in the life sciences field. I believe the > calculus courses that we were required to take were standard calculus, but > I could see something like this working as well, where the calculus courses > would not be like a calculus course taken by a math major, but rather, the > curriculum would be designed so that the concepts and learning objectives > would suit the field of study. Carrie has provided an excellent list below > with the 6 points of valuable competencies for prospective biologists. > > *Joseph Russell, MNR* > > *Wildlife Management and Recreational Planning Research Fellow* > > Stockton University > > Galloway, NJ 08205 > > (609) 287-0596 > > joseph.russ...@stockton.edu > > *www.stockton.edu <http://www.stockton.edu/>* > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Oct 18, 2016, at 10:18 AM, Carrie Eaton <cea...@unity.edu> wrote: > > 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 <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> > > -- John Anderson W.H. Drury Professor of Ecology/Natural History College of the Atlantic 105 Eden St Bar Harbor ME 04609
