A Study of Problems Involved in Teaching Large Classes in College General Biology

Abstract

As college enrollments continue to increase, many colleges will be faced with problems associated with lack of staff and facilities for teaching classes in biology. At the Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, we found that our General Biology course required about half of our staff time and laboratory space was becoming a serious problem. In view of the impending need to reduce or eliminate laboratory work for the General Biology course, a three-year study was initiated to determine whether or not General Biology could be taught effectively in large lecture sections and without laboratory work. The study was conducted during 1955-57 with our General Biology course described elsewhere. (Breukelman, 1955). Laboratory space has been limited at Emporia and it was necessary to operate several small biology laboratory sections for nearly all hours of the day and several evenings each week. This presented difficulties when preparations were necessary for other courses which used the same laboratories. The elimination of laboratory work in General Biology allowed for adequate room for the intermediate and advanced courses, which were also increasing in enrollments. Also, a substantial reduction in the per cent of the staff's time required in General Biology was effected. In Figure 1 we see that though enrollments had risen, staff time devoted to General Biology decreased when laboratory work was eliminated. Moreover, more than one-half time of one staff member was devoted to coordination of small lecture and laboratory sections, though this time was not figured into the staff load and thus does not appear in Figure 1.