Correlation between MCAT Biology Content Specifications and Topic Scope and Sequence of General Education College Biology Textbooks

Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing general education (GE) graduation requirements. Biology textbooks for these three audiences present a topic scope and sequence that correlates with the topic scope and importance ratings of the biology content specifications for the MCAT regardless of the intended audience. Texts for “nonmajors,” GE courses appear derived directly from their publisher''s majors text. Topic scope and sequence of GE texts reflect those of “their” majors text and, indirectly, the MCAT. MCAT term density of GE texts equals or exceeds that of their corresponding majors text. Most American universities require a GE curriculum to promote a core level of academic understanding among their graduates. This includes civic scientific literacy, recognized as an essential competence for the development of public policies in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Deriving GE biology and related science texts from majors texts designed to meet very different learning objectives may defeat the scientific literacy goals of most schools’ GE curricula.     

美国高中生物学教材中的职业教育

美国高中现行的主流生物教材<生物:生命的动力>是由McGraw-Hill公司依据美国<国家科学教育标准>编写的.该教材结构严谨,集趣味性、阅读性、科学性、探究性于一体,强调重在培养学生的思维能力和探究精神,体现了知识、能力和方法并重.     

我国生物产业发展概况

随着生物技术的不断研究和开发,其经济、社会和环境效益对人类社会的影响越来越大,已经成为世界各国经济社会发展的战略重点,王宏广认为“生物经济将是网络经济之后的新的经济增长点”,生物产业将成为本世纪新的主导产业。本文就我国生物产业的概念、特点及发展情况做简要阐述。     

试论生物教科书中科学素养的评价

文章介绍了生物教科书与科学素养的关系,通过阐述和介绍以“科学素养”为目标对生物教科书进行评价的意义及国内外的研究成果,提出了我国生物教科书评价中急需解决的具体问题。     

聚焦学科核心素养,彰显教材育人价值——普通高中生物学教材修订的总体思路

教材践行社会主义核心价值观,注意渗透中华优秀传统文化,落实建设“美丽中国”“健康中国”的要求。教材全面落实课程标准要求,聚焦生物学重要概念,发展生物学学科核心素养,并促进学生的全面发展。教材的组织方式和呈现形式都力求符合学生的认知规律和学习心理,因此易教利学。     

The Role of Photographs and Films in Kettlewell's Popularizations of the Phenomenon of Industrial Melanism

H.B.D. Kettlewell's investigations on the phenomenon of industrial melanism are generally referred to in textbooks and other popularizations of science as the classic demonstration of natural selection (Majerus 1989). A central question for historians of this episode is accounting for why public perceptions of the importance of Kettlewell's work have diverged from those of researchers who actually work on the phenomenon. In a recent paper published in Biology and Philosophy, Joel Hagen draws attention to the role Kettlewell and his colleagues played in idealizing his investigations as an example of controlled experimentation in their several retrospective popular accounts. The present essay discusses the important role photographic and film depictions of differential bird predation played in Kettlewell's popularizations. This analysis supports Hagen's contentions that Kettlewell deftly and strategically used these visual representations to command assent to his interpretation of the phenomenon and shore up claims about the scientific legitimacy and importance of his work. It nevertheless disputes that these images were intended to portray Kettlewell's experiments as an example of controlled experimentation. In a concluding section, the essay draws several morals from this analysis regarding the use of popularized articles and visual images to teach science.     

美国数学教材中的"动手做"

美国数学教材中“动手做”通过动手操作、动手制作及动手探索等活动,强调对学生学习态度、学习方法和思考方法等素养的培养.它与我国的综合实践活动、研究性学习有一定的相似之处.这一活动启示我们:加强教材作为教学工具的功能;“从做中学”,使实践活动的重心在于“得”;进一步加强小组合作学习形式.     

在普通生物学教学中对大学生进行素质教育的探索与实践

以普通生物学教学改革为依托 ,尝试从学科的内涵和概念的拓展入手 ,针对教学方法、教学内容进行改革 ,对学生专业知识体系的构架、科学思维能力和实验动手能力的培养、生物学思想建立等综合素质的培养进行全方位的探索 ,以期为高校素质教育的研究提供思路     

《普通生物学》教学改革的探索和实践

随着教学改革的进行,为了在短学时内有效地完成《普通生物学》课的教学任务,对教学内容进行了相应地缩减,并将教学内容制作成电子课件,充分利用多媒体进行教学,将“讲授法”“讨论法”“自学指导法”“实验法”“启发式教学”“比较式教学”等教学方法进行优化组合,加强教学质量和效果,充分提高了学生的学习积极性．     

Understanding Quantum Numbers in General Chemistry Textbooks

Quantum numbers and electron configurations form an important part of the general chemistry curriculum and textbooks. The objectives of this study are: (1) Elaboration of a framework based on the following aspects: (a) Origin of the quantum hypothesis, (b) Alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics, (c) Differentiation between an orbital and electron density, (d) Differentiation and comparison between classical and quantum mechanics, and (e) Introduction of quantum numbers based on electron density; (2) Formulation of five criteria based on the different aspects (a, b, c, d, and e), and (3) Evaluation of 55 freshman college‐level general chemistry textbooks. Results obtained show: Criterion 1, none of the textbooks described satisfactorily that Planck’s role in the origin of the quantum hypothesis was more at the level of an empirical adjustment, whereas Einstein provided the physical significance of the quantum hypothesis; Criterion 2, few textbooks (two satisfactory and four mentioned) included alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics (e.g., Bohm) and thus ignored that most theories are underdetermined by experimental evidence; Criterion 3, none of the textbooks described satisfactorily that orbitals are mathematical constructs and the shapes of the orbitals (s, p, d, f) are not derived from quantum mechanics but instead from electron density measurements; Criterion 4, although, quantum mechanics approaches classical mechanics as a limiting case, none of the textbooks presented a framework to facilitate transition in student understanding from classical to quantum mechanics (28 textbooks made a simple mention); and Criterion 5, few textbooks (one satisfactory, five mentioned) facilitated the introduction of quantum numbers based on experimental determination of electron density (photoelectron spectrum). It is concluded that the inclusion of these criteria in textbooks can facilitate students’ conceptual understanding of quantum numbers and electron configurations.     

学分制与高校教材管理

实行学分制教学管理 ,学校必须进行全面的教学管理改革 ,教材管理改革即是其中一个方面。我国高校现行的教材管理办法是在学年制的教学管理模式下形成的 ,学校对学生的教育按照制定好的专业教学计划进行 ,学生选择课程的自由度很小 ,教材管理部门的任务就是依据教学计划和学生人数 ,进行教材的统一征订 ,统一发放 ,统一结算 ,统一收费 ,保证“课前到书 ,人手一册”。这种教材管理办法 ,在学年制教学管理模式下 ,对保证教材供应 ,稳定教学秩序 ,起到了积极的作用。而实行学分制教学管理后教材供应将遇到许多新问题。一是学生选课情况不同 ,造…     

初中生物新课程标准教材的比较研究

在《初中生物课程标准》的指引下,人民教育出版社、北京师范大学出版社、人民教育出版社、北京师范大学出版社、江苏教育出版社、济南出版社等几家出版单位各出版了中学《生物》教科书,这些教材都被各地中学采用。但许多中学教师对这几个版本教材的选择及利用都存在一定的盲目性。为帮助广大生物教师更好地选择及使用新教材,现以七年级上册为例,对几个版本的新教材作一简略比较。     

Sex Education Representations in Spanish Combined Biology and Geology Textbooks

Sex education is principally dealt with as part of the combined subject of Biology and Geology in the Spanish school curriculum. Teachers of this subject are not specifically trained to teach sex education, and thus the contents of their assigned textbooks are the main source of information available to them in this field. The main goal of this study was to determine what information Biology and Geology textbooks provide with regard to sex education and the vision of sexuality they give, but above all to reveal which perspectives of sex education they legitimise and which they silence. We analysed the textbooks in question by interpreting both visual and text representations, as a means of enabling us to investigate the nature of the discourse on sex education. With this aim, we have used a qualitative methodology, based on the content analysis. The main analytical tool was an in-house grid constructed to allow us to analyse the visual and textual representations. Our analysis of the combined Biology and Geology textbooks for Secondary Year 3 revealed that there is a tendency to reproduce models of sex education that take place within a framework of the more traditional discourses. Besides, the results suggested that the most of the sample chosen for this study makes a superficial, incomplete, incorrect or biased approach to sex education.     

大学英语教材中的文化内容对大学英语文化教学的影响

在跨文化交流日益频繁,文化教学日益受重视的背景下,应该重视大学英语教材中的文化内容对我国大学英语文化教学的影响,以更好地促进大学英语主流教科书的建设和大学英语文化教学。     

论大学英语教材的文化取向

通过对多种大学英语教材的对比分析可以发现,我国现行的广泛使用的英语教材中有相当一部分课文内容只注重英语语言的应用性及可读性。教材的编写思路应从以语法为纲,以语言为中心转向以培养语言交际能力为主。教材应将语言知识、语言能力、素质教育和趣味性融为一体,让学生在感受不同的文化现象和文化内涵时,能更好地拓展知识面,提高整体的综合文化素养。     

美、真、爱——人教版高中生物教科书图像系统人文价值取向

图像系统是教材知识结构的重要组成部分．是教材体现人文价值取向的一项不可或缺的指标之一。人教版三套必修教材,有大量的图群,配以相应的文字,组成蕴涵着丰富人文价值信息的图像系统群。通过对人教版3个必修教科书深入的人文价值具体内容统计与分析研究后,得出该套教材图像系统主要蕴涵着“美”、“真”、“爱”三个人文价值内容取向。     

美国早期数学教科书中的极限概念

围绕"极限概念"这一主题,考察了1870—1939年间出版的92种美国数学教科书,发现书中的极限定义分成动态、静态、动静结合3类;大多数为描述性定义,少部分为形式化定义.对照历史上数学家给出的极限定义得出结论:70年间,数学教科书中的极限概念的演变过程是极限概念历史发展过程的一个缩影.