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Building Mathematical Models and Biological Insight in anIntroductory Biology Course

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2011

A. E. Weisstein
A. E. Weisstein*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri 63501, USA
*
⋆ E-mail: weisstae@truman.edu
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Abstract

A growing body of literature testifies to the importance of quantitative reasoning skillsin the 21st-century biology curriculum, and to the learning benefits associated withactive pedagogies. The process of modeling a biological system provides an approach thatintegrates mathematical skills and higher-order thinking with existing course contentknowledge. We describe a general strategy for teaching model-building in an introductorybiology course, using the example of a model of an infectious disease outbreak.Preliminary assessment data suggest that working through the formal process of modelconstruction may help students develop their scientific reasoning and communicationskills.

Keywords

mathematical modelingeducationmathematical biologyepidemiology
Type
Research Article
Information
Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena , Volume 6 , Issue 6: Biomathematics Education , 2011 , pp. 198 - 214
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2011

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