“I Was Told There Would Be No Math Involved”

Editorial| September 01 2019 “I Was Told There Would Be No Math Involved” Vedham Karpakakunjaram, Vedham Karpakakunjaram 2Professor, Biology Department Montgomery College Rockville, MD vkarpaka@montgomerycollege.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Kristin Jenkins Kristin Jenkins 1Director, BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium Boyds, MD kristin.jenkins@bioquest.org Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (2019) 81 (7): 465. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2019.81.7.465 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Vedham Karpakakunjaram, Kristin Jenkins; “I Was Told There Would Be No Math Involved”. The American Biology Teacher 1 September 2019; 81 (7): 465. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2019.81.7.465 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search A colleague recently shared an article with us about Scottish high school students and their parents who were incensed because the high-stakes end-of-year biology qualifying exam was heavily quantitative. This situation serves as a demonstration of the entrenched misconception that biology is a math-free zone. Historically, biology began as an observational science. Even Darwin described evolution with minimal quantitative analysis in The Origin of Species. Things have changed drastically since 1859, and quantitative biology is now (or at least should be) an integral component of the life sciences. Modern biology has access to unprecedented amounts of exciting data, which can be managed only with quantitative tools, including those from emerging fields like data science. Staying on top of this rapidly changing field is a daunting task; keeping our teaching up-to-date is an even greater challenge. At community colleges and beyond, supporting students' development of quantitative skills must occupy a... You do not currently have access to this content.