Introductory science courses challenge students for many reasons. One of these reasons is that often the material presented is an overview of the subject and can appear fragmented to students. This can make it hard for students to connect their knowledge in a meaningful way within the course, much less relate this knowledge to other science courses. Often these connections between various science courses are not explicitly made for students in introductory courses and, instead, are taught in isolation from each other. Although it is essential for students to integrate their scientific knowledge to prepare for addressing large-scale challenges, students are seldom given opportunities to purposefully practice connecting their knowledge across disciplines. Currently, we are developing assessments and classroom activities aimed at helping students integrate their chemistry and biology knowledge while using this knowledge to explain fundamental biological phenomena. This poster will present an overview of our project and an example of these assessment tasks and classroom activities.

Developing assessments that integrate students’ chemistry and biology knowledge

2019 Spring National Meeting

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