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 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] 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 > > 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 > Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html > SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu > AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu > Fall Colors: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy
