A LIST OF CURRENT BIOLOGY CONCEPTS TO BE INCLUDED IN AN INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE BIOLOGY COURSE

This study was conducted to ascertain and to rank certain biological concepts that should be included in an introductory college biology course, and to determine if recent discoveries and advances in biology resulted in a shift of emphasis in biology concepts.; A list of 114 concepts developed at the University of Wisconsin in 1970 and copies of a questionnaire were mailed to 360 randomly selected community college, senior college, and university biology teachers in the United States. Subjects were asked to rate the importance of including the concepts in an introductory biology course and to add concepts that they felt should be included. The data were analyzed for rank order by calculating the weighted-mean value for each concept. Kendall's Rank Correlation Coefficient (tau) was used to determine the level of agreement between college biology teachers in this study (Group One) and university biologists in the 1970 study (Group Two).; The following findings are made: (1) A moderate level of agreement exists between the groups in ranking the concepts. (2) Both groups perceived 57 percent of the thirty highest ranked concepts similarly. (3) Additional concepts submitted by respondents did not divulge a shift of emphasis in biology concepts, due to recent discoveries and advances in the biological sciences.; The following conclusions are made: (1) This study should be replicated using a larger, randomly selected sample. (2) The concepts identified in this study, should be considered in developing future introductory biology curricula. (3) A common definition for the term "concept" should be established which would provide the student and teacher a single definition. (4) The concepts identified during this study should be revised periodically by biological science educators. (5) A study should be conducted focusing on the concepts employed most often and those employed least often to ascertain the learning outcomes in relation to teachers' behavior. (6) Studies should be made in the future to identify concepts created by recent discoveries and advances in biology for inclusion in the introductory biology course. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)...