In recognition of the importance of introductory biology courses at two-year and community colleges to the development of scientific literacy among college-educated individuals, BSCS is conceptualizing, writing, testing, and evaluating a set of innovative curriculum materials for biology students at the college level. Collaborating in the 36-month project are fifteen partners, including biology faculty at eight community colleges (including several that offer programs in biotechnology and environmental technology), the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC), the two-year college section of National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), the Society for College Science Teaching (SCST), the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Ward's Natural Science Establishment, Inc., and Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company (college division). The completed program will offer an integrated and coherent approach to helping students achieve three major goals of biological literacy: 1) to understand the basic unifying principles of biology; 2) to develop the fundamental skills of critical thinking and scientific reasoning; and 3) to recognize the applications of science, especially relationships among science, technology, and society. The materials that are being developed are of use to future teachers or science at the elementary and secondary levels because strategies are incorporated that encourage students to reflect on the overall deign of the program, the strategies that help them learn, various teaching techniques, and assessment strategies. The products of the project will include student materials (readings, activities, and laboratory exercises) that will support both semester- and year-long introductory biology courses and that emphasize hands-on, open-ended inquiry, collaborative learning, and the relationships among science, technology, and society; an instructor's gui de that will provide faculty with extensive background reading and specific implementation support; and a model for a faculty development workshop that will be designed and tested by the partner faculty and will be supported after the end of the project by revenues realized from sales of the program.
