I normally do not contribute to ECOLOG (my apologies...), but thought I should put my own 2 cents in on this one. I work in Japan at a major university (although I am American and educated for the most part in the US), and part of my job involves admissions into our international BS program. We take applications from all over the world, and interview students. As a part of this process, we generally quiz students in their understanding of mathematics. What has shocked me in this regard is that American students applying to our program, who include amazingly smart students with top SAT scores, understand mathematics at a far lower level than students from the entire rest of the planet (this is not an exaggeration). European and Asian students applying, as high school students, into out undergrad degree already understand calculus and probability theory at levels I've only seen in American 3rd or 4th year college math majors. I knew before moving to Japan that American students were a little behind when it comes to STEM education, and in terms of the basic sciences I think they are just a little behind. But in terms of mathematics, they are at the bottom of cliff, and the rest of the world is at the top of that cliff. As a personal aside, as an immigrant to the US, I have also been strongly dismayed at the fact that the simplest math questions always result in someone asking me for the answer. Simple conversions from IMperial to metric, and so forth.
So, to end my little rant, I would say that a discussion of whether to end the teaching of calculus to ecology majors only reinforces my own belief that American students are moving even further below the rest of the world when it comes to STEM education. Sincerely, Rich Shefferson New book on the Evolution of Senescence in the Tree of Life http://tinyurl.com/SenescenceBook Sent from my NSA tracking device On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 9:09 AM, Neufeld, Howard S. <neufel...@appstate.edu> wrote: > Dear All - > > > > I am participating in a study here at Appalachian State University about > whether we should restructure the mathematics and statistics requirements > for our biology/ecology majors. For example, should we require all majors > to take an entire semester of calculus? > > > > I have written an explanation of why we are looking into this, and you can > read the essay by going to this link on Google Drive: > > https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxpSVO5IUz- > EMGdwU1lDNjhSRFE?usp=sharing > > > > I would welcome comments from those interested in this subject, which > would help us out here at Appalachian State in our discussions of this > important subject. > > > > Thanks! > > Howie Neufeld > > -- > Dr. Howard S. Neufeld, Professor > Director, Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center > (SAEREC) > Chair, Appalachian Interdisciplinary Atmospheric Research Group (AppalAIR) > > Mailing Address: > Department of Biology > 572 Rivers St. > Appalachian State University > Boone, NC 28608 > Tel: 828-262-2683; Fax 828-262-2127 > > Websites: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/faculty-staff/104 > Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html > SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu > AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu > Fall Colors: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy > >
