Enhancing Interdisciplinary Attitudes and Achievement via Integrated Biology and Chemistry

Success in undergraduate biology courses relies upon a firm grounding in chemical principles. We sought to raise students' awareness of the connection between these two disciplines and to improve their understanding of each by carrying out a pilot project that integrated the curricula of Princi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 19 - 35
Main Authors Guo, Ying, Huey, Pat, Pursell, David
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference 01.05.2017
Subjects
Biology
Chemistry
Comparative Analysis
Course Content
Course Descriptions
Course Evaluation
Integrated Curriculum
Interdisciplinary Approach
Mastery Learning
Outcomes of Education
Pilot Projects
Science Achievement
Science Instruction
Student Attitudes
Teaching Methods
Undergraduate Students
Georgia
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Summary:Success in undergraduate biology courses relies upon a firm grounding in chemical principles. We sought to raise students' awareness of the connection between these two disciplines and to improve their understanding of each by carrying out a pilot project that integrated the curricula of Principles of Chemistry II (CHEM1212K) and Principles of Biology I (BIOL1107K) during the Fall 2016 semester. The study involved two course pairs: one section of each course delivered in the traditional non-integrated manner and a second pair of sections that were integrated across the chemistry and biology disciplines in both the scope and sequence of the content delivery. Both integrated and non-integrated sections were taught by the same instructors, who have expertise in both chemistry and biology to ensure a full understanding of both courses' content. Attitudinal surveys administered at the beginning and end of the semester showed that students in the integrated BIOL/CHEM section of our pilot study appreciated the delivery of an integrated curriculum and improved their awareness of the connections between the two disciplines. End-of-course assessments of topic mastery demonstrated improvements in the integrated students' capacity to understand and apply both biology and chemistry topics compared to students in the non-integrated sections.
ISSN:2572-6412
2572-6412
DOI:10.20429/stem.2017.010104