STEM Education Institute Tuesday Seminar
“BIO 2010: A Road Map for Curriculum Redesign in the Life Sciences”
Elizabeth A Connor
Dept. of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The National Academies recently provided guidelines for the training of life science students in a report, “SBIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists.” We, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, have begun a process of curriculum reform in the biological sciences that implement BIO 2010 recommendations. Our approach is to integrate the applicable principles of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and bioinformatics into the biology curriculum in both the classroom and laboratory setting. The long range goal is to achieve a fundamental and lasting redesign of our biological science curriculum that will better prepare our biological science students for careers in 21st century biomedical research that require interdisciplinary and quantitative skills. To date, we have designed four new integrated introductory laboratory courses taught by teams of instructors from biology and the physical sciences. Two of these courses have been implemented and two are in design.