2020 ESA Annual Meeting (August 3 - 6)

COS 28 Abstract - Calculus for ecology?: Identifying quantitative skills applied in the biology curriculum

Kathy Williams1, Janet S. Bowers2, Antoni Luque2 and Matt Anderson3, (1)Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, (2)Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, (3)Physics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Background/Question/Methods

For over 20 years, science and math educators have been striving to increase quantitative literacy of biology undergraduates. Findings from NSF-supported workshops in 2000 produced a listing of quantitative skills biologists reported as most frequently used and recommended a variety of ways to integrate them into undergraduate curricula. Despite these recommendations, faculty and students throughout the US continue to be challenged by quantitative courses impeding undergraduate progress in ecology and other STEM majors. Through the project, "Collaborative Research: A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships,” faculty and students at multiple campuses are investigating strategies to improve learning and application of quantitative reasoning across biology courses.

We report perceptions of faculty and students at a major urban university about how math and statistics from introductory courses are applied in required biology majors’ courses, especially ecology. Initial findings indicated a misalignment of expected learning outcomes and course activities and provoked further comparisons of course design and sequencing. Analyses of course materials and assessments were compared to results of faculty and student surveys to determine how math was actually applied in calculus and statistics courses versus ecology and organismal biology courses, then that was compared to other campuses.

Results/Conclusions

Even with advances in big data collection in disciplines like ecology and genetics, statistics, algebra, and graphical representation supersede calculus in analyses, as suggested in 2000. Students recalled using, and course materials showed, that lower-level math/stats concepts were applied in required “core” courses. However, traditional calculus remains required of all biology majors at this and many campuses, despite being rarely applied, even in ecology courses. Somewhat higher-level math/stats appeared in upper-division courses, like ecology, yet faculty reported poor student preparation for quantitative reasoning expected. One possible reason for misaligned expectations is poor communication among faculty and students about what quantitative concepts are introduced, practiced, and developed throughout the curriculum. Findings indicated that quantitative reasoning skills from introductory courses are not scaffolded throughout the major’s curriculum, yet faculty expect retention of quantitative concepts.

Challenging faculty to explicitly identify quantitative reasoning expected of students and developed in courses, provides information to support evidence-based curriculum redesign, especially in ecology and math/statistics courses. Math and biology faculty are working together at this university and with collaborators across the US to identify appropriate expectations and add biological relevance to math courses, and vice versa, to increase retention and success of ecology and other biology majors.