This project focused on integrating an international component into the one-semester biochemistry course, a required course for biology, chemistry, and forensic science majors at the institution. A driving question was how to integrate the international component into the course while showing direct relevance to the course and students' lives.…

An introductory plant science lab offered by the Department of Agronomy & Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was adapted for online delivery. This paper describes the adjustments made for online delivery and examines students' perceptions of learning and engagement from surveys administered in both the in-person and online…

Engineering researchers face increasing pressure to manage, share, and preserve their data, but these subjects are not typically a part of the curricula of engineering graduate programs. To address this situation, librarians at the University of Michigan, in partnership with the Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering Department, developed a…

The recent revision of undergraduate curricular guidelines from the American Chemical Society Committee on Professional Training (ACS-CPT) has generated interest in examining new ways of organizing course sequences both for chemistry majors and for nonmajors. A radical reconstruction of the foundation-level chemistry curriculum is presented in…

The seminal report "Vision and Change" outlined improvements necessary for undergraduate biology courses to accomplish widely recognized learning objectives. Over the past 8 years, we have developed a two-semester introductory biology course that incorporates the core concepts and competencies recommended in "Vision and…

A two-semester second-year introductory organic chemistry sequence featuring one semester of accelerated organic chemistry followed by one semester of bioorganic chemistry is described. Assessment data collected over a six-year period reveal that such a course sequence can facilitate student mastery of fundamental organic chemistry in the first…

Inquiry-based instruction is widely promoted to increase both students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in course content. What this means for day-to-day practices in the classroom is more elusive. Instructors adopting inquiry-based curricula often are unaware of the typical instructional challenges they may face. In particular,…

A first year non-majors biology course, with an enrollment of around 440 students, has been redesigned from a course of traditional content and teaching style to one that emphasizes biological concepts in current global issues and incorporates active learning strategies. We were informed by the education literature incorporating many aspects of…

Discusses a course proposal which concentrates on fewer topics and covering the topics in greater depth. Proposes a sequence in which each topic is introduced phenomenologically, the theory is developed, and the applications are discussed. Uses optics as an example. Lists some disadvantages and advantages of the proposed topical organization. (YP)

THE RESULTS OF TWO CONFERENCES THAT CONSIDERED A COMMON CORE OF LEARNINGS FOR COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY MAJORS ARE REPORTED. AT THE FIRST CONFERENCE DURING FEBRUARY 1964, EIGHT UNIVERSITIES WERE REPRESENTED. IT IS REPORTED THAT ALL INSTITUTIONS HAVE INAUGURATED CORE PROGRAMS WHICH ATTEMPT TO TREAT THE WHOLE SPAN OF BIOLOGY FOR BEGINNING…

This is a guide to the chemical physics major. The scope of chemical physics is presented, along with the general features of course contents and possible course structures. This information was derived from a survey of British universities and colleges offering undergraduate degree courses in chemical physics. (BB)

Although nonmajors were relegated to "watered-down" versions of majors' courses, recent attempts to relate science to the interests of the "antiscience" students have become more common. Such a course is described, developed as part of an integrated two-year general education program. (JN)