This is a time of great ferment in education in the life sciences. The students we educate today are the voting citizens of tomorrow. Their attitudes toward and knowledge about the life sciences will determine the basis for future support of the discipline. New technologies offer faculty and students new ways to learn. The K-12 community's adoption of the recommendations from the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards, with their renewed emphasis on process and concepts, promises to produce students with different attitudes toward science and new approaches to learning the disciplines. The interest of the public and of entering college freshmen is high in the life sciences. How can undergraduate biology faculty respond to these challenges and opportunities?
One year ago, a special advisory committee to the Education and Human Resources Directorate of the National Science Foundation released a report titled Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate ...
