As the de facto language of science, English proficiency often serves as a gatekeeper for aspiring medical students in Puerto Rico because they encounter English-language instruction, textbooks, and high-stakes standardized tests throughout their studies. Employing ethnographic research methods, this case study documents the language practices in…

In response to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Association of American Medical Colleges Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians (SFFP) report and a concern for better preparing undergraduates for future doctoral programs in the health professions, the deans of the College of Arts and Sciences and Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences of…

When teaching physics, it is often difficult to get biology-oriented students to see the relevance of physics. A complaint often heard is that biology students are required to take physics for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) as part of a "weeding out" process, but that they don't feel like they need physics for biology. Despite…

The purpose of this study was to examine the educational impact of an intervention, the inquiry-focused textbook "Integrating Concepts in Biology" ("ICB"), when used in a yearlong introductory biology course sequence. Student learning was evaluated using three published instruments: 1) The Biology Concept Inventory probed depth…

Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing…

Cites changes to occur on the Medical College Admissions Test to include: a reduction from six to four sections, biology and physics content-specific sections to absorb chemistry, elimination of multiple-choice questions to a problem-solving format, and the inclusion of graded essay questions. (RT)

The predictive and incremental validity of both the Old and New Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was examined and compared with a sample of over 300 medical students. Results of zero order and incremental validity coefficients, as well as prediction models resulting from all possible subsets regression analyses using Mallow's Cp criterion,…