Biology Course Earns National Recognition From: University Currents Date: March 10, 2000 By: Dawn Fuller Phone: (513) 556-1823 Photo by Lisa Ventre Archive: Campus News, General News A science course sequence for nonscience majors, developed by a team of UC biology and education faculty, is gaining attention at the national level. UC was one of only 28 universities and colleges selected from around the country to participate in the first national symposium on a new initiative supported by the National Science Foundation, called Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER). The symposium was held earlier this quarter in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). SENCER works to improve undergraduate science education by supporting programs that train students to become literate in the field of science. "Students need to be engaged with the great issues of our day and increasingly, more than a modest scientific literacy is required in understanding the choices we need to make in a democracy," says David Burns, senior policy director at AACU and SENCER director. Universities are constantly striving for students to graduate with a well-rounded education and a general knowledge of subjects outside their fields of study. The UC course titled Biology in a Human Context takes nonscience majors on a new exploration that covers three academic quarters. "Everything we do in the course, almost without exception, has to do with how this relates to human biology and yet it's not just a human biology course, it's not just anatomy and physiology," explains biology professor Carl Huether, who assembled the team that created the course. For example, as students study the major systems of the human body, they do a three-day analysis of what they eat and drink. They calculate the amount of carbohydrates, fats, lipids and other information and compare it with the recommended dietary requirements. Huether says many students find they're packing away a great deal of empty calories. "Let's say some students drink four cans of non- diet soft drinks a day. That amounts to 36 teaspoons of sugar a day and then we figure out that is 35 pounds of sugar per year. They find there's no nutritional value and it can really add to weight problems. I've seen students six months later who have told me they dramatically cut down on their sugar intake, all from what they learned in this course." "Everything we learn, you can almost see it on the news every night," said UC freshman and pre-psychology major Shannon Russell on a recent class field trip tour of the Cincinnati Zoo's Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife. "This class can be applied to everyday life in human biology and that's why it is so unique. You go to a class and you learn, and you become more literate about things that are going on that you didn't know before." Professors use a variety of teaching techniques, including lecture, small group discussion, field trips and videos of science topics that have become top stories in the news media. Multi-media modules also were developed for the course. The course was created with the support of a three-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and $100,000 of matching funds from UC. It came about through the work of faculty from five UC colleges: biology professor Carl Huether, College of Arts and Sciences; science education professor Glenn Markle, College of Education; Chris Curran, adjunct assistant professor of biology, College of Evening and Continuing Education; Mary Fox, associate professor of math and applied science, University College; Donald Meismer, associate professor of biology, Raymond Walters College and Frank Wray, assistant professor of biology, Raymond Walters College.