Introductory Biology Textbooks Under-Represent Scientific Process

Author:

Duncan Dara B.1,Lubman Alexandra2,Hoskins Sally G.1

Affiliation:

1. Biology Dept., City College of CUNY, New York, NY 10031

2. Bard High School Early College Manhattan, 525 E Houston St., New York NY 10002

Abstract

Attrition of undergraduates from Biology majors is a long-standing problem. Introductory courses that fail to engage students or spark their curiosity by emphasizing the open-ended and creative nature of biological investigation and discovery could contribute to student detachment from the field. Our hypothesis was that introductory biology books devote relatively few figures to illustration of the design and interpretation of experiments or field studies, thereby de-emphasizing the scientific process.To investigate this possibility, we examined figures in six Introductory Biology textbooks published in 2008. On average, multistep scientific investigations were presented in fewer than 5% of the hundreds of figures in each book. Devoting such a small percentage of figures to the processes by which discoveries are made discourages an emphasis on scientific thinking. We suggest that by increasing significantly the illustration of scientific investigations, textbooks could support undergraduates’ early interest in biology, stimulate the development of design and analytical skills, and inspire some students to participate in investigations of their own.

Publisher

American Society for Microbiology

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,Education

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5. American Association for the Advancement of Science2011 Vision and change in undergraduate biology education—a call to action Available from http://visionandchange.org/218858243046885

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