Nonmajors Biology Course Research Articles

Self-Reported Physical Activity Patterns and Plans for Future Physical Activity in University Students

Physical activity recommendations for health include muscular conditioning exercises and regular moderate- to vigorous-intensity activities of an aerobic nature. However, it is unclear how times spent in these activities differ from each other and track over time. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences among past, current and projected future physical activity patterns in undergraduate students at a private university in the Pacific Northwest. METHODS: Volunteers (77 females and 42 males aged 19.94 ± 3.32 y and registered in non-majors biology courses), anonymously reported typical weekly minutes of mo derate-intensity, vigorous-intensity, and muscular fitness activities in the 6 months previously, during the past month, and projected 6 months in the future. resULt s: To determine if activity reports varied from past, present, and future projections, a series of within subject ANOVAs were performed for each intensity level. The multivariate analyses for mo derate-intensity indicated a significant effect of time, Wilks' · = .93, F (2, 117) = 4.50, p = .013, multivariate n2 = .071. RESULTS: from the follow up planned comparisons indicated that this omnibus finding was accounted for by the significant difference between current time reports and future time projections, t (118) = −2.99, p = .003, n2 = .07 when family wise error was controlled for at the .02 level. Similar results were observed with vigorous activity reports with a significant omnibus result (Wilks' · = .841, F (2, 117) = 11.03, p <.001, multivariate n2 = .16) accounted for by the difference between current and future activity projections (t (118) = −4.58, p < .001, n2 = .15) with family wise error accounted for. When these same analyses were run on muscle strengthening activity reports, the omnibus test was again significant (Wilks' · = .712, F (2, 117) = 23.68, p <.001, multivariate n2 = .29). However, pairwise comparisons were significant between future projections with past and current reports (P < .01 for both comparisons). Recall accounts of time in moderate-intensity and vigorous activity significantly differed from projected future accounts of these activities. A “J” relationship appeared with more time reported for past and future then current activity irrespective of activity type. CONCLUSION: In this sample, we found that students were more likely to report being active in the past than at present. Furthermore, for each measure of activity assessed, students give their highest time endorsement to future activity – there hopes for the future being greater than either current realities or recollections of the past.

The Validity of Kolb Learning Styles and Neo-Piagetian Developmental Levels in College Biology

The Kolb learning styles and neo-Piagetian development levels of 366 students enrolled in a non-majors college biology course were assessed. Students then completed a one-semester lecture/lab course within one of two instructional methods - inquiry or expository. The predicted interaction between Kolb's thinking/feeling learning dimension and instructional method was not found. Instead, as predicted by neo-Piagetian developmental theory, the thinking/feeling dimension and developmental level both correlated positively with course achievement under both instructional methods. Also as predicted by developmental theory, a significant correlation between the Kolb thinking/feeling learning dimension and developmental level was found. Thus, the value of attempting to match instructional method with Kolb's thinking and feeling learning styles, which may in fact reflect differences in developmental level, is questioned. On the other hand, the finding that developmental level did predict success within both instructional approaches supports neo-Piagetian theory and implies that instruction should be designed to improve reasoning abilities.

Student Attitudes toward Web-Enhanced Instruction in an Introductory Biology Course

This study examined student attitudes toward the introduction of a Web component into a general biology course for undergraduate nonmajors at a midsized rural university. The Web component primarily allowed asynchronous learning outside the classroom and increased student-to-student interaction. Students could use the Web site to access chapter outlines, grades, critical-thinking and problem-solving questions, self-grading quizzes, and the course syllabus. It was found that the Web component had a highly positive effect on student learning, problem-solving skills, and critical-thinking skills. The effects of the Web-enhancement tool were assessed using essays, short answer and multiple choice questions, and in-class discussion. The attitude of females in the course toward Web-based learning was found to be significantly more positive than that of males. Furthermore, females in the class were found to use the Web more often than males. Student use of the Web was found to be independent of age, racelethnicity, year in school, computer experience, and learning style. The fact that there was no relationship between attitude and learning style indicated that the materials posted were suitable for all types of learners. Most students used the Web to take quizzes, post to the bulletin board, access their grades, and download chapter outlines and critical-thinking and problem-solving questions. All of these facilities allowed for asynchronous learning. The chat room was the least used Web component, possibly because it required the students to log on at specific times (synchronous learning). However, the majority of the students did access the logs of each of the chat sessions that were posted on the Web. Findings from this study suggest that instructors should use the Web for the posting of course syllabi, grades, quizzes, questions, and materials that encourage student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction. The materials posted to the Web should address the different learning styles of the students and be diverse and interesting enough to encourage student participation.

Myco-Heterophytes &amp; Parasitic Plants in Food Chains

IN the five or six-kingdom biological classification system, the Plant Kingdom often receives minimal coverage in both biology textbooks and biology teaching (Uno 1994). In particular, plants are infrequently used as examples of general biological concepts (Moehlmann 1993). For example, terrestrial food chains have an autotrophic plant at the bottom of the food chain, yet plants are not included at higher trophic levels. To incorporate more plants in a freshman, nonmajors biology course, I introduce the fascinating group of heterotrophic angiosperms in the study of food chains. Biology textbooks often state that all plants are autotrophic; however, plants exhibit substantial diversity in their nutritional mode. More than 3400 angiosperm species in about 27 families are at least partly heterotrophic, meaning they obtain at least some of their energy from other organisms (Leake 1994; Press & Graves 1995). Traditionally, heterotrophic plants have been divided into parasitic plants and saprophytes. The term, myco-heterotrophic plant, has been proposed as a more accurate replacement for saprophyte (Leake 1994). This article uses the shorter term, myco-heterophyte.

Developing a Distributed Learning Community

This article describes the implementation of a teaching teleapprenticeship model that involves undergraduate education majors and public school students in a series of instructional interactions that provide opportunities for reciprocal mentoring roles. This model led to the emergence of a distributed learning community composed of a college biology instructor, his undergraduate students, and teachers and students in the public schools, Grades 4–8. Undergraduate students enrolled in the introductory biology course who indicated an interest in a teaching career were invited to participate in a Teaching Teleapprenticeship Project in which they would serve as content resources to public school students as part of the instructor’s vision of an electronic classroom. In this article, surveys, interviews, and observations of the participants are summarized to describe how the electronic classroom evolved over a three year period from 1992–1994. Misconceptions can come into play in any instructional situation, and we found that misconceptions in the electronic classroom present special challenges. Suggestions are given for planning and implementing projects linking university undergraduates with students in K–12 schools, as well as suggestions for minimizing the communication of erroneous information.The instructor of an introductory biology course for nonmajors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign regularly offers a variety of extra credit options for students. In recent years, he has become aware of the prevalence of computers in public school classrooms, as well as the electronic networking possibilities available for teachers. His vision was to create an electronic classroom, a place for the education majors in his biology course to begin to learn about how computers are being used in schools and how computer networks are making content resources more accessible to classrooms. He also wanted his students to think about the kinds of science questions that children of various ages might ask and to attempt to provide appropriate responses using this new medium. This article describes the evolution of the instructor’s vision of an electronic classroom and the nature of his students’ experiences. This research was conducted as part of an NSF-supported project investigating teaching teleapprenticeships and the uses of computers and computer networks in the preparation of pre-service math and science teachers. This project also involved students and teachers in Grades 4–8 in schools all over North America during Years 1 and 2, and within a 70-mile radius of the university in Year 3.

Students' conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution: Cases of replication and comparison

AbstractThe work of Bishop and Anderson (1990) plays a major role in educators' understanding of evolution education. Their findings remind us that the majority of university students do not understand the process of evolution but that conceptual change instruction can be moderately effective in promoting the construction of a scientific understanding. The present article details two studies that represent an effort to focus on and define the limits of the Bishop and Anderson (1990) study. Study A describes a close replication of the work of Bishop and Anderson (1990) using the same conceptual‐change teaching module to teach a unit on evolution to students enrolled in a biology course for nonmajors. Study B, a case of comparison, used the same evaluation instrument used in Bishop and Anderson (1990) and Study A, but high school students were the participants and the instruction was based on the inquiry approach to science. Like Bishop and Anderson (1990), Study A showed that the amount of prior instruction and students' beliefs in evolution were not found to be large factors in students' use of scientific conceptions. Unlike the original study, the students in Study A showed only a meager increase in their use of scientific conceptions for evolution. In Study B, students in the experimental group showed significant increases in their use of scientific conceptions. These findings suggest a need to investigate more closely the teachers' theories of learning, their reliance on instructional conversations, and the amount of time devoted to the topic of evolution as we study conceptual change in this area.

Matching and mismatching preservice teachers' learning styles: Keys to educating for individual differences

Learning styles of elementary education majors in biology (n=83), measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), were compared to learning styles of students (n=673) in a general non-majors biology course. Recommendations for courses for elementary education majors were made, which included incorporating student-led demonstrations and presentations, a study schedule, instruction with personal involvement, television, films and audiovisuals. A program which taught psychological (MBTI) type theory and matched and mismatched students' learning styles was incorporated into a biology course for elementary education majors to educate them in individual differences. The program facilitated an increase in the students' decided dominant MBTI function scores (p<.04).

Community Colleges and the Nonmajors Biology Course

Journal Article Community colleges and the nonmajors biology course Get access Bernard A. Marcus Bernard A. Marcus Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar BioScience, Volume 43, Issue 9, October 1993, Pages 632–634, https://doi.org/10.2307/1312151 Published: 01 October 1993

A Model for Incorporating &amp; Evaluating Use of a Computer Laboratory Simulation in the Nonmajors Biology Course

A Model for Incorporating &amp; Evaluating Use of a Computer Laboratory Simulation in the Nonmajors Biology Course

The rejection of nonscientific beliefs about life: Effects of instruction and reasoning skills

AbstractNine hundred fifty‐four students in a large university nonmajors biology course were pretested to determine the extent to which they held nonscientific beliefs in creationism, orthogenesis, the soul, nonreductionism, vitalism, teleology, and nonemergentism. To test the hypothesis that hypothetico‐deductive reasoning skills facilitate movement away from nonscientific beliefs, the degree to which those nonscientific beliefs were initially held and the degree to which they were modified during instruction were compared to student reasoning level (intuitive, transitional, reflective). As predicted, the results showed that the less skilled reasoners were more likely to initially hold the nonscientific beliefs and were less likely to change those beliefs during instruction. It was also discovered that less skilled reasoners were less likely to be strongly committed to the scientific beliefs.

Economics and Biology: An Analogy for the Presentation of the Niche Concept

In a first-level college biology course the niche concept is fundamental in introducing ecology. Few students at this level, particularly those in a nonmajor course, have had the opportunity to gain an appreciation for the incredible number of interactions possible among members of a biological community. This presents a difficult task for the lecturer in illustrating the richness and complexity of the niche concept. In the general biology course for nonmajors that I teach at Baylor University I use an analogy that has been successful in communicating the multidimensions of niche strategies. The analogy is developed from a study conducted by Kangas and Risser (1979) on species packing in fast food guilds. I introduced the analogy by displaying a transparency that lists all of the restaurants and eating establishments in Waco, Texas. The use of this transparency and the relating of basic economic principles to ecological principles can initiate a number of discussions and introduce a number of ecological concepts. My specific objectives are to define niche and niche parameters, define competition and introduce the concepts of resource partitioning, the competitive exclusion principle and the compression hypothesis of ecology. After presenting the students with the general definition of niche as the role or profession of the organism within the community, I ask them to define niche for the establishments listed. The students generally answer that the niche can be defined as providing prepared food for the people of Waco. When asked for a more specific definition the students begin to point out the differences among the restaurants and use these to define the niche for a particular restaurant. Differences commonly listed include the kinds of food served, the time required to obtain a meal, prices, the hours open, the location, ambiance, type of service (counter service versus waiter/waitress), and the presence or amount of inside seating. These factors are used to indicate the dimensions of niches and how niches can be measured. General comparisons of niche width also can be made by comparing establishments with narrow specialized niches (i.e. Super Spud or the Great Hot Dog Experience which serves only a single type of food) with those having broad generalized niches (i.e. Denny's which is not known for any particular type of food but rather a wide variety). Characteristics of different niches are then used to introduce and emphasize the role of competition in niche formations and community structure. To do this, the number must be identified as the basic resource that is in limited supply. I use a question/answer format to help the students recognize these points. Questions such as What must a restaurant do in order to stay in business? or Why are some establisments more successful than others? help guide them in this direction. By the end of this discussion, the students, usually with only a little help from me in the way of questions, have established that the restaurants are dependent upon the money procured by attracting customers and their ability to attract customers is dependent upon the services they offer (niche strategies). Success is also determined, in part, by how many other establishments offer the same services (competition). The next step is to introduce the concept of resource partitioning and to compare competitive intensities among the different restaurants. For this portion of the discussion I usually focus on fast food restaurants (FFRs), which are well known by most college age students. By limiting the discussion to FFRs, it is easier to establish the portion of overlap in their niches (i.e. all specialize in preparing and presenting the food in a short amount of time, similar atmosphere and types of service, comparable prices) and also point out that each clearly attempts to offer some unique product (i.e. Mexican, fish, versus hamburgers) or service (i.e. morning meal, open 24 hours, We will fix it your way). When asked to explain the characteristic differences among the FFRs, students quickly tell me that the differences help in attracting a different segment of the customers (resources). In essence, the resources are being divided or portioned out among the different establishments (resource partitioning). At this point, I introduce the ecological concepts of the competitive exclusion principle (two species cannot coexist indefinitely when they have the same niche) and the compression hypothesis (as the number of competitors increases, niche overlap and niche width decrease), drawing examples from the previous discussion along with examples from biological studies. This analogy provides a way of introducing the ecological complexity of biological systems in a framework in which the students are comfortable and one in which they can contribute to their understanding. It also illustrates the common ground between two seemingly unrelated disciplines, economics and biology. The value of this point must not be overlooked when teaching a university required course for nonbiology majors.

Raising Bioethical Consciousness in an Introductory Life Sciences Course

Research Article| December 01 1976 Raising Bioethical Consciousness in an Introductory Life Sciences Course Betty B. Hoskins Betty B. Hoskins Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (1976) 38 (9): 533–541. https://doi.org/10.2307/4445736 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Betty B. Hoskins; Raising Bioethical Consciousness in an Introductory Life Sciences Course. The American Biology Teacher 1 December 1976; 38 (9): 533–541. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/4445736 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1976 National Association of Biology Teachers Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.