A Vision for University Biology Education for Non-science Majors
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College biology education must prepare future college graduates to be engaged, science-literate citizens. This is especially important, because the vast majority of college students (82%) are non-science majors. This essay identifies aspects of science education critical for preparing science-literate non-science majors.
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Calls have highlighted the need to train non-STEM majors in scientific literacy.
“despite calls that have highlighted the need to train non–STEM majors in scientific literacy (Gormally and Heil, 2022).”
From Reading Primary Scientific Literature: Approaches for Teaching Students in the Undergraduate STEM Classroom (2023) · cites this paper as Gormally and Heil, 2022
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- Authors
- Gormally, C., & Heil, A.
- Affiliations
- Gallaudet University (US)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gormally, Cara
- ORCID
- Heil, Austin
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2022-12
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- es5-es5
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9727605
- OpenAlex
- W4296035678
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 82
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 10.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOAA Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Evolution and Science Education
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education
- Keywords
- biology education, non-science majors, scientific literacy, socioscientific issues, community participation, science skills, science education reform
- MeSH terms
- Biology, Humans, Students, Universities
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