Undergraduate Education in the Life Sciences Receives Support
This grant from the Exxon Education Foundation allows CELS to bring professional
societies together to achieve greater coherence in the diverse array of topics and
approaches in undergraduate biology education.
The Exxon Education Foundation will provide $145,000 over the next two years to the
Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences (CELS), a coalition of scientific societies
that are committed to improving undergraduate biology education. Funding will support
alliances among professional societies both to bring their collective expertise and
resources to bear upon critical issues relating to life science undergraduate education in
the United States and to better inform them about ongoing national efforts to improve
undergraduate science education.
CELS was formed in 1991, when individuals representing 30 life science professional
societies and organizations with a collective membership of over 250,000 life scientists
and science educators called for the formation of a national life sciences education
network. Because the various disciplines in the life sciences have so many professional
organizations to represent them, M. Patricia Morse, Past President of ASZ (the forerunner
of SICB) and Chair of the Educational Council of ASZ at that time, remembers that
establishing a coalition was seen as the only truly effective way to position the life
science societies to play an active and sustained role in biology education. Dr. Morse
recalled, "Participants at the conference recognized that no single life science
society or educational association could hope to make a real impact by itself. Instead,
the participants saw the pooling of resources, talents, knowledge and skills as the best
chance to create a durable national improvement in life sciences education."
Since its creation, CELS has disseminated information about exemplary programs in life
sciences education and fostered dialogues to identify the critical components of biology
to which all students should be introduced during their undergraduate years, especially in
introductory courses. Susan Cook, SICB Educational Council Chair, asserted that "CELS
activities are effectively extending the seminal work, 'Science as a Way of Knowing,' led
by John A. Moore in conjunction with our Society a decade ago." Published in the American
Zoologist, the "Science as a Way of Knowing" collection is still used by
biology professors today as a rich source of content information for teaching.
This grant from the Exxon Education Foundation allows CELS to bring professional
societies together to achieve greater coherence in the diverse array of topics and
approaches in undergraduate biology education. Jay Labov, who is both a member of SICB's
Educational Council and the CELS Steering Committee, is excited about the potential for
continuing interactions between CELS and SICB. "One of the daunting challenges facing
all of us who teach college students is to devise a program so that our students develop
the knowledge, skills and attitudes that scientifically literate citizens need," Dr.
Labov commented. "While SICB has made great strides in elevating the teaching of
zoology to undergraduates, we are often unaware of successful projects and approaches
being developed by the other biological disciplines. I believe that our society has a lot
to offer - and learn from - other societies in this coalition." Additional
information about the Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences is available at
http://www.wisc.edu/cels.