College Students' Perceptions on Adequacy of High School Science Curriculum as Preparation for College Level Biology

Abstract

W ITH the increasing number of high school graduates going on to college, there is an even greater need to insure the adequacy of the high school curriculum in preparing students for college (Uno 1988). The science education system of the United States has been criticized as providing a poor preparation for college science, lagging behind other countries such as Japan, Europe and the (former) Soviet Union (Barinaga 1990). The high school biology curriculum, in particular, has been criticized. Indeed, U.S. high school students ranked 13 out of 13 countries on knowledge of this subject in a 1988 study (Moore 1990). The strong level of concern by American educators for this issue is reflected in several national committee reports such as Project 2061: Science for All Americans, developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 1989) and Fulfilling the Promise: Biology Education in the Nation's Schools (National Research Council 1990), and in surveys of professional biology educators (Leonard et al. 1991). Much of the discussion on the adequacy of high school curricula as a preparation for college level science concerns the content of high school courses, the development of science process skills (Costenson & Lawson 1986), the relationships to technology and society and science teaching methods (Lawson 1988). While these are important concerns, less discussion has dealt with college student perceptions and attitudes towards biology and, in particular, the perceived adequacy of their own background prior to taking college biology courses. Smith (1979), for example, showed that student attitudes led to the alienation of female and black students from public school science. A negative attitude towards science is one of the main problems facing college freshmen enrolled in lower-division biology courses (Uno 1988). Such attitudes have been shown to have a negative effect on learning (Lawrenz 1976). The goal of our investigation was to survey college students taking introductory biology courses on their attitudes and perceptions on aspects of biology that should have been covered in high school science. Since all high school students in Florida are required to take a high school biology class with a mandatory lab (Florida Department of Education 1990), one of the key indicators of the adequacy of the high school curriculum is its adequacy as a preparation for college-level introductory biology courses.