BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists

208 Pages·2003·1.21 MB·English

by  Na, Committee on Undergraduate Biology Education to Prepare Research Scientists for the 21st Century

Committee on Undergraduate Biology Education to Prepare
st
Research Scientists for the 21 Century
Board on Life Sciences
Division on Earth and Life Studies
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils
of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were
chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract Number N01-OD-4-2139, Task Order 64 be-
tween the National Academies and the National Institutes of Health and Award Num-
ber 71200-500115 between the National Academies and the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this
publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bio2010 : transforming undergraduate education for future research
biologists / Committee on Undergraduate Biology Education to Prepare
Research Scientists for the 21st Century, Board on Life Sciences,
Division on Earth and Life Studies, the National Research Council of the
National Academies.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-08535-7 (pbk.)
1. Biology—Study and teaching (Higher)—United States. I. National
Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Undergraduate Biology Education to
Prepare Research Scientists for the 21st Century.
QH319.A1 B56 2002
570′.71′173—dc21
2002152267
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COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY EDUCATION
ST
TO PREPARE RESEARCH SCIENTISTS FOR THE 21 CENTURY
LUBERT STRYER (Chair), Stanford University, Stanford, California
RONALD BRESLOW, Columbia University, New York, New York
JAMES GENTILE, Hope College, Holland, Michigan
DAVID HILLIS, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
JOHN HOPFIELD, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
NANCY KOPELL, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
SHARON LONG, Stanford University, Stanford, California
EDWARD PENHOET, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, San
Francisco, California
JOAN STEITZ, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
CHARLES STEVENS, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla,
California
SAMUEL WARD, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Staff
KERRY A. BRENNER, Study Director, Board on Life Sciences
ROBERT T. YUAN, Program Officer, Board on Life Sciences
JAY B. LABOV, Deputy Director, Center for Education
JOAN G. ESNAYRA, Program Officer, Board on Life Sciences
BRIDGET K.B. AVILA, Senior Project Assistant, Board on Life Sciences
DENISE GROSSHANS, Project Assistant, Board on Life Sciences
Editor
PAULA T. WHITACRE
iv
BOARD ON LIFE SCIENCES
COREY S. GOODMAN (Chair), University of California, Berkeley,
California
R. ALTA CHARO, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison,
Wisconsin
JOANNE CHORY, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla,
California
DAVID J. GALAS, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Science,
Claremont, California
BARBARA GASTEL, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
JAMES M. GENTILE, Hope College, Holland, Michigan
LINDA E. GREER, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC
ED HARLOW, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
ELLIOT M. MEYEROWITZ, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California
ROBERT T. PAINE, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
GREGORY A. PETSKO, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
STUART L. PIMM, Columbia University, New York, New York
JOAN B. ROSE, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida
GERALD M. RUBIN, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase,
Maryland
BARBARA A. SCHAAL, Washington University, St. Louis
RAYMOND L. WHITE, DNA Sciences, Inc., Fremont, California
Staff
FRANCES E. SHARPLES, Director
JENNIFER KUZMA, Senior Program Officer
ROBIN A. SCHOEN, Senior Program Officer
KERRY A. BRENNER, Program Officer
JOAN G. ESNAYRA, Program Officer
MARILEE K. SHELTON, Program Officer
EVONNE P.Y. TANG, Program Officer
ROBERT T. YUAN, Program Officer
BRIDGET K.B. AVILA, Senior Project Assistant
DENISE GROSSHANS, Project Assistant
VALERIE GUTMANN, Project Assistant
SETH STRONGIN, Project Assistant
v
Foreword
This report continues the National Academies’ efforts in the reform of
education by calling on researchers to recognize the importance of teaching
and to join together with educators to promote undergraduate learning.
The goal in this case is to prepare the next generation of biological research-
ers for the tremendous opportunities ahead. Attaining this goal will require
that faculty spend more time discussing their teaching with their colleagues,
both within and outside of their own field or department. The enthusiastic
participation of the Bio2010 committee members in this study demon-
strates how deeply our leading researchers value education. It also proves
that chemists, physicists, mathematicians, and biologists can learn from
each other, as well as from talented educators. As the report makes clear,
biological research today has reached a very exciting stage, and many more
biological scientists with strong backgrounds in physics and chemistry will
be needed. Moreover, collaborations between established scientists who
were trained in different disciplines will be facilitated if they learn to com-
municate with its practitioners at an early stage in their careers and appreci-
ate the contributions that each discipline can make to biology.
Undergraduate education is a crucial link in the preparation of future
researchers. Many university faculty care deeply about education, but most
of them have received no training in how to teach. This report offers many
suggestions for faculty who would like to improve their teaching. It pre-
sents examples of what others have done and resources for further investi-
vii
viii FOREWORD
gation. It also calls on colleges, universities, and others to provide support
for faculty who want to devote energy to improving teaching and to pro-
ducing new teaching materials.
The National Academies have produced dozens of reports on educa-
tion in recent years. Many of these reports are useful resources for college
faculty. Science Teaching Reconsidered is a handbook for faculty to help
them improve their teaching. Transforming Undergraduate Education in
Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology promotes a vision in
which these subjects would become accessible to all students. How People
Learn and Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards are written
for precollege faculty, but they contain important ideas for everyone on
how knowledge of cognitive science can inform teaching and learning. All
of these resources are freely available on our Web site at www.national
academies.org.
Publishing reports is not enough. As a result of ideas presented in this
Bio2010 report, the National Academies will launch a pilot program, a
Summer Institute for Undergraduate Biology Education. The Institute
will bring teams of faculty from research universities together to present
them with proven ways to improve student learning, as well as to allow
them to share their own expertise concerning effective undergraduate
teaching.
In closing, I would like to thank Lubert Stryer for his inspired, ener-
getic leadership of this important project, as well as the members of the
committee and its staff for each of their critical contributions. They have
served the nation well.
Bruce Alberts
President, National Academy of Sciences
Chair, National Research Council
Preface
Increasingly, biomedical researchers must be comfortable applying di-
verse aspects of mathematics and the physical sciences to their pursuit of
biological knowledge. Biomedical researchers advance society’s understand-
ing of many topics, not just human disease. They work with diverse model
organisms and study behavior in systems ranging from the molecular to the
organismal using traditional biological techniques as well as high-tech ap-
proaches. Undergraduate biology students who become comfortable with
the ideas of mathematics and physical sciences from the start of their edu-
cation will be better positioned to contribute to future discoveries in bio-
medical research. For this reason the National Institutes of Health and the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute asked the National Research Council to
evaluate the undergraduate education of this particular group of students.
The committee began its work in the fall of 2000.
The report recommends a comprehensive reevaluation of undergradu-
ate science education for future biomedical researchers. In particular it calls
for a renewed discussion on the ways that engineering and computer sci-
ence, as well as chemistry, physics, and mathematics are presented to life
science students. The conclusions of the report are based on input from
chemists, physicists, and mathematicians, not just practicing research bi-
ologists. The committee recognizes that all undergraduate science educa-
tion is interconnected. Changes cannot be made solely to benefit future
biomedical researchers. The impact on undergraduates studying other types
ix