Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

3 p.

Publication Date

2-1984

Publisher

University of California Press

Source Publication

The American Biology Teacher

Source ISSN

0002-7685

Original Item ID

doi: 10.2307/4447786

Abstract

Declining enrollments and financial restraints require that science departments seek ways to meet academic commitments within the framework of reduced budgets and faculty resources without sacrificing quality programs. The following describes our evaluation of the role of the laboratory in the undergraduate biology curriculum and the positive effects achieved on our academic, financial, and faculty resources by separating labs from lecture courses and reducing the number of labs required for majors and nonmajors. Several years ago we experienced increased enrollments coupled with only modest increases in funds to deliver our undergraduate instructional programs. To resolve this problem we developed a new approach to the role of lecture and laboratory courses for our biology majors, the nonmajor, and the students in the allied health programs serviced by our department. The changes effected by us then would appear to be equally appropriate in today's economy when inflationary pressures and a decline in students make it imperative that departments look to ways to meet their academic commitments within the framework of declining budgets and faculty resources.

Comments

Published version. The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 46, No. 2 (February 1984): 99-101. DOI. © 1984 University of California Press. Used with permission.

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