Improvement of Quantitative Reasoning Skills in Transfer and Direct Entry Students Exposed to Cell Biology Modules

Calls for transforming biological curricula have emphasized a need for improving quantitative skill development in STEM education. To address this, we designed six interdisciplinary modules to develop quantitative reasoning competencies for a sophomore-level Cell Biology course. After a comprehensive curriculum alignment procedure between a four-year institution and its primary community college sending institutions, we determined module topics, then developed and implemented the modules. We assessed the effects of the modules on student proficiencies using validated pre-post measurements of specific quantitative competencies. Students showed significant total growth in quantitative goals for all modules and for each module individually, even though modules varied widely in difficulty. Transfer students were equally able as direct entry students to gain in quantitative proficiency across the modules, which is an improvement over the findings of a previous study. Additionally, both transfer and direct entry students exposed to more modules had a higher score on a global assessment of quantitative and biological concepts. Attitude assessments showed that students had an overall positive experience with the modules. Our results suggest that adding quantitative modules to core biology courses can promote student understanding of quantitative concepts for both direct entry and transfer students and can benefit transfer students in particular.