The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis has been awarded a two-year, $299,990 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new tool to assess whether using real-world biology examples in college-level mathematics courses enhances student understanding of quantitative concepts.
The NSF grant will allow NIMBioS to develop a new instrument to investigate and compare learning comprehension and skill development in college-level mathematics courses that use real-world examples from the life sciences versus courses that use more abstract learning. The instrument—the Quantitative Biology Concept Inventory—could serve as a model for measuring the effect of using real-world interdisciplinary examples on enhancing mathematical comprehension in undergraduates. Read more on the NIMBioS website.