Examining Undergraduate Attitudes Toward the Use of Mathematics in Biology

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The University of Texas at Austin has received an NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Exploration Track award to develop and utilize an instrument to measure the extent to which undergraduate life science majors value mathematics for understanding and answering biological questions. According to expectancy-value theory, the personal values assigned to a task, such as using mathematics to understand and make predictions about biological phenomena ("mathematics-biology tasks"), can influence a student's decision to enroll in future courses related to the task and their performance on the task. Thus, cultivating life science majors' value of mathematics-biology tasks is critical to their overall ability to apply quantitative skills and to the development of quantitative biologists. To accomplish this, an existing, validated mathematics task-value instrument, the Mathematics Value Inventory (MVI), will be adapted and empirically validated to produce the Mathematics-Biology Value Instrument (MBVI). The MBVI will measure four dimensions of student value of using mathematics in biology: enjoyment, usefulness, need for high achievement, and perceived cost. With guidance from an Advisory Board consisting of experts in psychometrics, statistical analysis, and quantitative biology education, the PI team will use an iterative cycle of formative assessment and revision that will produce a valid and reliable measure for determining the extent to which life science majors value mathematics-biology tasks. This instrument will be used to assess the landscape of life science majors' mathematics-biology task-values, including any differences between male and female, introductory and upper-level, and majority and minority students at institutions implementing different types of quantitative biology education reforms.