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Dr. Rita Finley,
Biology, Morehouse worked on developing web materials for a non-majors
introductory Biology course. Her intent is to provide useful links
for the course topics for preparation and review. For example, for
the global change unit, she will link real events, with graphs,
tables and questions. Topics that are often difficult for non-majors,
chemistry and genes, will be emphasized. During the course, she
accumulated many useful links and case studies to incorporate. She
completed a detailed case page on androgen insensitivity syndrome
(testicular feminization), tied to a story line about a "female"
athlete who discovers she is genotypically male. She is adding pictures,
images of chromosomes, etc. Thought questions will encourage students
to explore ethics of testing to truly involve non-science concentrators.
Rita states, " Non-science majors in our institution typically dread
registering for Biology and often put it off until the junior or
senior year. Some students have had poor science instruction in
high school and middle school. This is where interactive technology
becomes vital to the course. From these cases we'd like to see this
course become one that students anticipate eagerly, enjoy and learn
from." Eventually Rita would like to adopt a tool like Virtual Sherlock's
case approach.
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