It's incredibly rewarding to teach general education biology.

Science literacy is an essential skill, even for those who aren't going to be scientists.

I really did try to make it work, but no matter how many different approaches I used,

something wasn't right.

And then one day, I had a moment that made me rethink everything.

You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Melanie Tresik King, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from

Skeptoid.com. Rethinking Science Education

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.

Picture this. There I was, in front of the class, lecturing with my usual enthusiasm, this time about the stages of mitosis.

As a biologist, I might be a bit biased, but biology is awesome. It helps us understand the diversity and interconnectedness of life on Earth and our place within it.

Unfortunately, most of my students didn't share my enthusiasm.

Non-majors biology is often taught like a watered-down version of the introductory course taken by majors.

After briefly touching on the scientific method, the rest of the semester is a whirlwind tour of the major concepts in biology, molecules,

cells, genetics, organisms, and evolution. One of the most popular textbooks is over 800 pages

long for a single semester, for students who don't want to be scientists when they grow up.

I never liked this baby bio approach, and I was always searching for something better,

trying out different textbooks, labs, case studies, and frequently using issues relevant to

students' lives to teach important concepts. And yet, my epiphany came while I was teaching how mitosis can help us understand

cancer. But the looks on my students' faces still haunt me. They weren't excited. They were bored,

overwhelmed, scared. I realized they were going to memorize and then purge everything right after the exam.

And if or when they were impacted by cancer in the future, would they remember what they learned?

Was I even teaching them what they needed to know?

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