Collaborative Research: Integrating Mathematics into the Introductory Biology Curriculum: A First Step

新墨西哥州立大学和埃尔帕索社区学院正在合作创建一门新的入门课程，该课程将生物学和数学教学完全结合起来。这个想法源于一个成功的本科生物和数学项目，在这个项目中，教师和学生团队一起研究共同的研究问题。现在，这一努力正在扩大，并在更多经验不足的学生群体中进行测试。针对刚开始学习STEM学科的学生，这门课程与传统课程同时在两所院校开设，并使用通用评估工具比较两种教学模式的有效性。如果这种结合的方法在影响学生的学习和概念掌握方面如预期的那样成功，它将取代两所大学的传统教学。这种创新的跨学科方法不仅为定量STEM学科的未来研究提供了坚实的基础，而且还允许制定策略，鼓励更多代表性不足的少数民族学生参与，这些学生占新墨西哥州南部和德克萨斯州西部人口的很大一部分。

New Mexico State University and El Paso Community College are collaborating to create a new introductory course that fully integrates instruction in biology and mathematics. The idea grew from a successful Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics project in which teams of faculty and students worked together on common research questions. Now that effort is being broadened and tested on a larger and less experienced student population. Targeted to students beginning their studies of STEM disciplines, the course is offered at both institutions in parallel with more traditional courses and the effectiveness of the two instructional models are compared using common assessment tools. If the combined approach is as successful at influencing student learning and conceptual mastery as expected, it will replace traditional instruction at both institutions. Not only does this innovative interdisciplinary approach provide a solid foundation for future studies in quantitative STEM subjects, it also allows development of strategies to encourage participation of more underrepresented minority students, a large part of the population in Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.