Vision and Change in Biology Undergraduate Education: A View for the 21st Century

在过去的几十年里，生物学发生了翻天覆地的变化，我们对人类学习方式的了解也发生了变化。是时候重新考虑我们如何对待生物学本科教育了。为此，美国科学促进会发起了一系列对话，使生物科学界的广泛人士能够深入了解需要发生的变化以及如何最好地实现这些变化。这些对话的报告正在制作中，并将作为本项目的基础，这是一次由教师、学生、管理人员、专业协会参加的重要会议，旨在解决改变和交流信息的需要，以便有效地努力升级本科生物学，以便向本科生教授的生物学反映出该学科当前的方法和概念，并利用新的教学技术和发现。发表的会议论文集和会议本身的目的是建立一个知情的生物学社区和加强该学科的本科教育，从而产生一个广泛参与科学界的变革活动。智力价值：本项目的智力价值在于有机会就如何升级生物学本科教育进行激烈的讨论和信息交流，以使所教授的内容、为学生提供的经验和所使用的教学法真正代表21世纪的需求和资源。会议记录将为那些从事生物教育但不能参加会议的人提供资源。更广泛的影响：这个项目的更广泛的影响在于参加会议的人的多样性，生物学和他们所代表的高等教育机构的子学科的多样性，以及他们带来的改变本科教育方法的各种技能和经验。传播计划包括印刷和网络出版物，并且足够灵活，可以包含会议本身开发的其他方法。此外，本次会议将包括目前支持本科教育进展的三个主要资助机构的投入，即国家科学基金会、国家卫生研究院和霍华德·休斯医学研究所，从而扩大其影响范围。

Biology has changed radically in the last few decades and so has what we know about how people learn. It is time to reconsider how we approach biology undergraduate education. To this end the American Association for the Advancement of Science sponsored a series of conversations to enable a wide spectrum of the biological sciences community to provide insight into the changes that need to take place and how best to effect those changes. The report from those conversations is being produced and will serve as the basis for this project, a major meeting of faculty, students, administrators, professional societies to address the need for change and exchange information concerning effective efforts to upgrade undergraduate biology so that the biology taught to undergraduates reflects the approaches and concepts current in the discipline and takes advantage of new teaching technologies and findings. The published proceedings and the meeting itself are designed to produce an informed biology community and enhanced undergraduate education in the discipline, resulting in a transformative activity that engages a broad spectrum of the science community.Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this project resides in the opportunity to have a vigorous discussion and exchange of information on ways to upgrade biology undergraduate education so that the content taught, the experiences offered to students and the pedagogy used truly represents the needs and resources of the 21st century. The proceedings will provide a resource for those engaged in biology education but who could not attend the meeting itself. Broader Impact: The broader impact of this project is in the diversity of the people who attend the conference, the diversity of the subdisciplines within biology and the institutions of higher education they represent, and the varied skills and experiences they bring to changes in approach to undergraduate education The dissemination plan includes both a printed and web based publication and is flexible enough to encompass other methods developed at the conference itself. In addition this meeting will include input from the three major funding agencies currently supporting advances in undergraduate education, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, thus enlarging the scope of its influence.