A Biology Course for the Less-Than-Prepared Prospective Biology Majors - curriculum and assessment analysis

Q: What problem does the paper address regarding biology majors?

It addresses the mismatch between incoming students’ preparation for college biology and the demands of the undergraduate biology curriculum.

Q: How were students placed into the preparatory course?

The department analyzed student grades from BIO 111 across five consecutive semesters and used a math SAT (MSAT) cutoff to determine placement into BIO 110 versus BIO 111.

Q: What does the study find about the relationship between MSAT and introductory-course performance?

There is a significant predictive relationship between MSAT score and performance in BIO 111, and the paper reports specific cohort outcomes showing the preparatory course’s effect.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Blitz

Many undergraduate institutions enroll students who arrive underprepared for biology majors. Data from five cohorts at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland showed a significant correlation between success in the introductory major course and students’ math SAT score. A preparatory course was created for students below a set MSAT cutoff, requiring at least a C+ grade to enter the introductory course. Results across the first four cohorts show strong preparatory-course effectiveness and no correlation in later success to MSAT for those progressing through.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Placement of Students into the Preparatory Course

Foundational Principles

A Biology Course for the Less-Than-Prepared Prospective Biology Major Janice M. Bonner College of Notre Dame of Maryland,4701 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210 Email: [jbonner@ndm.edu](jbonner@ndm.edu) *Corresponding author Abstract: Many undergraduate institutions are dealing with less-than-prepared students entering the biology major. When the biology department at College of Notre Dame of Maryland analyzed data from five past cohorts of prospective biology majors, it was evident that there was a significant correlation between their success in the introductory course in the major and their math SAT score (Spearman‘s rho = 0.058; p< 0.001) . Based on these results, the biology department developed a preparatory course for students whose MSAT score was below a prescribed cutoff value and stipulated that a student must pass this preparatory course with a grade ofat least C+ to take the introductory course. For the first four cohorts (n=93), 95.9% of those who enrolled in the introductory course in the semester following the preparatory course received a grade ofat least C. For these students, there was no correlation between their grade in the introductory course and their MSAT score. This paper describes how the department determines which students take the preparatory course, explains the design of the course curriculum and assessment within the course, and presents an analysis of the first four cohorts of students to progress through the course. Keywords: curriculum, SAT, MSAT, preparatory course Introduction Each fall semester, about two-fifths ofthe incoming first-year students at College of Notre Dame of Maryland, a liberal arts college for women, envision themselves as biology majors. As the instructor of the introductory biology course, I often found a mismatch between students‘ preparation for college biology and the demands ofthe undergraduate biology curriculum. Over the years, the biology department made several attempts to address this situation by incorporating workshops into the introductory course and by suggesting that students whom they judged to be lessthan-prepared defer taking the introductory course until the spring semester. Neither strategy, however, enabled students to complete the introductory course in a manner that prepared her to be successful in subsequent biology courses. Therefore, in 2004, the biology department addressed the issue head-on by introducing a specific course for less-than-prepared students. It was our hope that each student taking that course would either (1) continue with her plans to major in biology and take the introductory course, but be more informed about both the nature of the discipline she was choosing and about her strengthsand weaknesses as a student of that discipline; or (2) realize that the biology major did not match her academic strengths, complete her general education science requirement and look for a more suitable major. This paper describes how the department determines which students take the preparatory course, explains the design of the course curriculum and assessment, and presents an analysis of the first four cohorts of students to complete the course. Placement of Students into the Preparatory Course Guided by informal observation of students in the introductory course (BIO 111: Fundamentals of Biology) over numerous semesters, we conducted a formal statistical analysis of student grades in that course from five consecutive semesters. This comparison revealed a significant predictive relationship between MSAT score and a student‘s performance in BIO 111 (Figure 1) . The Spearman‘srho (non-parametric correlation) was 0.58, which is highly significant (p<0.001) . There was, on the other hand, no significant predictive relationship between a student‘s performance in the introductory course and either verbal SAT score, overall high school GPA, or high school biology GPA. Our finding was later bolstered by an NSTA report (200

FAQs

What problem does the paper address regarding biology majors?

It addresses the mismatch between incoming students’ preparation for college biology and the demands of the undergraduate biology curriculum.

How were students placed into the preparatory course?

The department analyzed student grades from BIO 111 across five consecutive semesters and used a math SAT (MSAT) cutoff to determine placement into BIO 110 versus BIO 111.

What does the study find about the relationship between MSAT and introductory-course performance?

There is a significant predictive relationship between MSAT score and performance in BIO 111, and the paper reports specific cohort outcomes showing the preparatory course’s effect.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Blitz