All biology students need a comprehensive and functional understanding of mathematics and statistics. This project focuses on students at a lower level of quantitative skill development and incrementally develops their skills to more sophisticated levels. Biology Department faculty are collaborating with Mathematics & Statistics faculty to design curricular strategies and materials for improving quantitative skills of the Biology major. Faculty teams are developing two new courses: a freshman-level Mathematics for Biology (M4B) course and a sophomore-level Statistics for Biology (S4B) course. The M4B course is closely linked with two introductory biology courses: Ecology & Adaptation and Introductory Seminar in Biology. Through an intentional plan of vertical integration, students expand and develop basic skills in remaining biology core courses. During the sophomore year, the two departments explicitly link the new S4B course to Organismal Biology, the final core course in the Biology major. The S4B course engages students in exploring underlying assumptions and principles of statistical tests. Students use this new knowledge to develop conceptually richer and more independent research projects in Organismal Biology labs. The project makes extensive use of peer instruction; math students mentor and advise biology students as they begin to use more sophisticated quantitative tools in their courses.
The project is providing a model for teaching mathematics in biology at demographically similar institutions. All curricular materials are available on the web, presented at national meetings, and published in peer-reviewed science education journals. Finally, Radford University is hosting a national conference for biology educators from similar institutions, providing a forum for disseminating the project's model and integrating it with approaches developed elsewhere.
SUMS4Bio was a cooperative effort among faculty members in the Department of Biology and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Radford University to stregthen quantitative skills of Biology majors. The primary objectives of the project were to develop new courses and teaching materials, assess student performance, and disseminate information to other educators. During the project faculty members designed two new courses: MATH 119 Mathematics for Biology and STAT 219 Statistics for Biology. Both courses are now parts of the regular curriculum for the Biology major and are taught every semester. Most majors take MATH 119 concurrently with BIOL 131 Ecology and Adaptation during the first semester of the freshman year. Many majors take STAT 219 concurrently with BIOL 232 Organismal Biology during the second semester of the sophomore year. Faculty members involved with teaching these linked courses continue to work together to coordinate topics and reenforce quantitative skills across the curriculum. Online resources for students and faculty have also been developed and are available on the project website: http:www.radford.edu/~jmwojdak/SUMS4Bio_Summary.html. Improvement in students' quantitative skills was assessed using a test designed by an outside evaluator. The exam was given during first week of BIOL 131 (fall semester) and again during the first week of BIOL 132 (spring semester). The test was repeated at the end of BIOL 232 the following year. Students showed small, but significant improvements in quantiative skills during the first semester of the freshman year and slightly larger gains during the sophomore year. As part of the project, Radford University hosted a regional conference attended by 21 mathematicians and biologists. The conference provided a forum for presenting the SUMS4 BIo program and sharing ideas with other educators. Faculty involved in the project have presented posters and papers at a number of national and international meetings of professional biology and mathematics educators.
