Newsgroups: sci.bio
Path: utzoo!utgpu!lamoran
From: lamoran@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (L.A. Moran)
Subject: Introductory Biology (was Quiz time)
Message-ID: <1991Apr28.134746.6024@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Organization: UTCS Public Access
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1991 13:47:46 GMT



Marc R. Roussel has complained about the quality of "service" courses at
University. I assume that he means large introductory courses and my comments
will be restricted to those type of courses, particularly biology. Perhaps
Marc could explain to us why he calls them "service" courses - the term seems
derogatory to me.

It is difficult to teach introductory biology because the instructor can not
be an expect in the entire subject. If the course uses a good textbook then
this problem is not severe because the instructor can rely on the text.
Marc Roussel's opinion of introductory biology texts must not be very high
since he says,

     "As a result of the generally low standards in service courses, the
      large publishing houses seem to have decreed that all textbooks 
      intended for them shall be thoroughly pablumized.  The whole 
      experience seems to be designed to turn students off, no matter 
      how hard an individual instructor tries to find ways to reach them."

This point of view seems to be shared by Stanley Friesen when he says,

     "Yeah, its true I can scarcely stand most beginning texts."

I am involved in writing introductory textbooks, including biology textbooks.
In my opinion the most popular books on the market are quite good and the
authors have made a major effort to make the subject interesting and accurate.

This discussion began with a quiz from a biology test. Marc Roussel objected
(as did I) to one of the questions concerning the reduction of NAD+. He points
out that oxidation and reduction have to do with transfer of electrons and
not with oxygen, as implied by the multiple choice question. Marc says,

     "I can teach my class about redox chemistry until I'm blue in the 
      face, but if the biology teacher expects them to "know" that 
      oxidation has something to do with oxygen, what am I to do?"

Now, it may be the case that the instructor in question does not understand
redox reactions but I think that Marc and Stanley are way off base if they
go on to assume that introductory biology TEXTBOOKS are also wrong. Here
is a quote from the text that is being used in the course in question,

     "When an atom or molecule gives up one or more electrons, it is
      said to be OXIDIZED. When it accepts one or more electrons it is
      REDUCED. The term OXIDATION-REDUCTION refers to an electron 
      transfer."
               Starr, C. and Taggart, R. (1989) Biology (5th ed), Wadsworth
               Publishing Company, Belmont, California, page 106

There are many other places in the text where this point is emphasized. 
A brief examination of the other leading biology textbooks reveals that they 
ALL say the same thing. The Starr and Taggert book is the most popular text
in non-majors courses. In majors courses the best selling text is by Neil
Campbell and he says,

      "In many chemical reactions, there is a transfer of one or more
       electrons from one reactant to another. These electron transfers
       are called oxidation-reduction reactions, or REDOX reactions for
       short. During a redox reaction, the loss of electrons from one
       substance is called OXIDATION, and the addition of electrons to
       another substance is known as REDUCTION."
                Campbell, N. (1990)  Biology (2nd ed), Benjamin/Cummings,
                Redwood City, California, page 183
   
If Marc and/or Stanley have any substantive criticisms of introductory biology
textbooks I would like to hear about them. I suspect that neither of them
have actually read an introductory biology book lately. Certainly their
comments on evolution suggests that their libraries are deficient! (-:

Large introductory courses are an unfortunate necessity at today's Colleges
and Universities. Textbook writers are doing their very best to produce
high quality works that will help the student. If the instructors in a course
don't want to be there (because they see it as a "service"?) then the
quality of the texbook becomes irrelevent. Marc Roussell seems to think that
there are many opposite examples - that is high quality instructors who
cannot teach because the textbooks are bad (see above quotation). I disagree.


-Larry Moran
Dept. of Biochemistry