Biology Education Reform and
the Community College
BRINGING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TO LIFE: A CASE-BASED MODEL
FOR INTEGRATING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING INTO INTRODUCTORY
SCIENCE COURSES
Rationale: Research and Reports Converge
• How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school:
Expanded edition
• Evaluating and Improving Undergraduate Teaching in
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education For
Future Research Biologists. .
Defining the Problem
 11.6 million students
 48% of all U.S. undergraduates
 In 1999 and 2000, close to half of
the more than 740,000 S&E
graduates with bachelor’s degrees
attended a community college
 In 2000, 38% of U.S. jobs requiring a
PhD in science filled by people born
abroad (24% in 1990)
 By the time U.S. students reach
their senior year of high school,
they rank below their counterparts
in 17 other countries in math and
science literacy
NSF Conversation in Undergraduate Biology
May 15-16, 2008
Co-sponsored American Institute Biological Sciences and AAAS
examining how professional societies can stimulate, support, and disseminate
information about undergraduate biological sciences education reform.
• What are the main goals and learning outcomes for the 21st century
undergraduate biological sciences curriculum?
• What changes need to take place in undergraduate biological sciences
teaching and learning, including laboratories, pedagogy, and learning
technologies strategies?
• How do we best prepare faculty and structure departments and institutions
for changes in undergraduate biological sciences education?
• How can foundations and professional societies support efforts for change in
undergraduate biological sciences?
What does the research say?
Recommended Solutions - Reform
• Content delivered through process thinking (students
explore their own questions)
• Research experience as early as possible in the educational
pathway (for all students)
• Science studies should be interdisciplinary with math fully
integrated
• Content delivered with inquiry-based methods (ex. PBL) –
learn through exploration
• Teach science in a collaborative setting - students explore
their questions with others.
• Multiple levels of mentorship
Finger Lakes Community College
• Used Root Cause Analysis to
identify primary barriers
• Built a model that
INTEGRATED solutions
• Initiated a Pilot program to
test the model (Phase I)
• Submitted a proposal to
expand the model (Phase II)
Pause for Discussion:
Can we be part of the solution?
What are the barriers in place
at community colleges that
will prevent this type of
reform?
How are community colleges
uniquely positioned to take a
lead in this kind of reform?
What emerged from our RCA?
 Lack of financial resources
 An Incompatible faculty model (ex.
Teaching load)
 Lack of faculty preparation (research
and PBL)
 Lack of access to a community of CC
researchers
 Lack of four-year school research
collaborations
 Support from administrators has been
tied to a lack of administrator education
on science education Reform efforts
What is needed?
 A complete reform of freshman science
courses (lecture and lab)
 Credit bearing sophomore courses for
undergraduate researchers
 A model for integrating undergraduate
research at a community college
 Resources (human and financial) to
test and assess solutions to reform
Model Elements
Engage
students with contextual labs and case
studies as freshman
Prepare
Faculty with research skills and students
with process thinking skills
Opportunity to explore
Sophomore-level research course with
interdisciplinary connections
Connect
Transfer of experience to four-year school
and “back” to freshman level (PLTL)
In Search of Synergy
• Peer-Led Team Learning - PLTL
• Case studies delivered using Peers as leaders
of learning groups
• Peers are graduates of the course and/or
graduates of the program (transfers)
Faculty Preparation and Training
problem solving (teams). The delivery should create
opportunities for students to generate, explore, and solve
their own problems (not just the ones we give them).”
• Support for faculty to
attend NCCSTS
workshops
• Local and regional field
methods workshops
• Training in PLTL for both
faculty and peer leaders
Incompatible Faculty Model
 Annual reports demonstrate engagement in primary research.
 Integrated into the freshman biology curriculum
 Researcher instructs professional development to train faculty on
how to run case study and lab associated with research
 Demonstrates either an inter or intra-departmental collaboration
 Participates in sophomore research course as instructor and
student advisor
 Demonstrates project includes math and a writing component.
 Demonstrate assessment according to General Education Criteria
for the Natural Sciences.
* Five Contact Hours *
Model Core: Case Studies
 Experienced Case Study developers paired with active
researchers
 Cases aligned with Syllabus and current research projects to
deliver content in freshman biology courses
 Laboratory activity designed to introduce methods
 Contextual Learning
 Engage students with projects (future exploration)
 Helps build “soft skills” required for research
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Communication skills
Working with teams
Critical Thinking
Experimental Design
Core Deliverable 1 – freshman course modules
• Alignment of research projects with freshman biology course outline
• Development of contextual case studies to deliver content in classroom
• Development of associated lab activities to teach methods / data collection
DNA-based methods for studying population
dynamics of eastern Red-Tail Hawks
CLASSROOM
“DNA Is For The Birds”
LABORATORY
• Purification of genomic DNA from whole blood
• Polymerase Chain Reaction
Core Deliverable 2 – Opportunities for advanced
exploration
BIO 291 – Research Methods in Biology
Natal Dispersal of the
Eastern Red-tailed Hawk
HOW MANY ARE THERE ?
The use of non-invasive DNA-based markrecapture methods for studying Grizzly
and Black Bear Populations in North
America
James A. Hewlett
Department of Science and Technology
Finger Lakes Community College
Research Networks - RIMES
Control Site
Experimental
Site
Project Partners
Tompkins-Cortland Community College
Monroe Community College
Genesee Community College
Jamestown Community College
Delaware Technical and Comm College
Mass Bay Community College
Nassau Community College
CUNY - Brooklyn College
Alabama A&M University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Harvard University
University of California - LA
University of Richmond
UMASS - Lowell
Council On Undergraduate Research (CUR)
NYS Department of Conservation
Braddock Bay Raptor Research
Under The Sea - Nevis
Reef Check
RIMES
Project Portfolio - Partners
 Population Genetics (RTH and Black Bear) - RIT
 Ecology of North American River Otters - RIT
 GIS-based habitat suitability models - reintroduction of captive bred
populations of spotted turtle - RIT
 Determining the distribution of nonpoint source loadings of nutrients
within the Allen Creek Watershed. – RIT
 Watershed Env. Chemistry – Delaware Tech and Comm Coll.
 Evolutionary ecology of sponges in temperate and tropical marine
systems – U. of Richmond
 A. tumefaciens transfer of virulence genes and proteins into host cells –
CUNY Brooklyn
 Evolutionary Ecology of Caribbean Anoles – Harvard
 Soil Microbiology and Chemistry – UCLA, Alabama A&M
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING INITIATIVES BEGAN IN 2001
Cost to college
$16,950
(assuming grant funds not covering release time)
Realized economic impact
$1,214,000.00
PROJECT WEBSITE
We are looking for partners
• Community colleges interested in reform
• Four-year institutions interested in collaborating
• Experienced case study writers to help develop
the curriculum materials