Making Biology Learning Relevant to Students: Integrating People, History, and Context into College Biology Teaching

Autor/inn/en	Chamany, Katayoun; Allen, Deborah; Tanner, Kimberly
Titel	Making Biology Learning Relevant to Students: Integrating People, History, and Context into College Biology Teaching
Quelle	In: CBE - Life Sciences Education, 7 (2008) 3, S.267-278 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1931-7913
DOI	10.1187/cbe.08-06-0029
Schlagwörter	Majors (Students); Diseases; Biology; Social Environment; Social Responsibility; Relevance (Education); Social History; College Science; Social Problems; Genetics; Cytology; Scientific Concepts; Evolution + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Disease; Krankheit; Biologie; Soziales Umfeld; Soziale Verantwortung; Relevance; Relevanz; Sozialgeschichte; Social problem; Soziales Problem; Humangenetik; Zytologie
Abstract	Teaching students to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they see in everyday life is imperative. As biology instructors, they may choose to teach biology devoid of social context, believing that students can make these connections on their own. However, students model their instructors' behaviors, and follow their lead. If biology instructors integrate social issues into the biology curriculum, they model social responsibility for biology majors, and they demonstrate the need for biological literacy for nonmajors. With an ever expanding biology curriculum, some instructors may wonder how they will find space to bring in social issues, and what biological content may be omitted in the process. This article discusses how to integrate people, history, and social context into college biology teaching. It first demonstrates the important connection between biology and social issues, and then examines how the history of biology can be used to infuse relevance into the biology curriculum. The article also demonstrates how familiar biological topics, such as sickle cell anemia, gene regulation via the lac operon, and energetics can be presented within their social contexts. These examples are followed by a summary of large-scale efforts and tables listing resources to assist instructors in this integration process. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	American Society for Cell Biology. 8120 Woodmont Avenue Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814-2762. Tel: 301-347-9300; Fax: 301-347-9310; E-mail: ascbinfo@ascb.org; Website: http://www.ascb.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10