Characterization of human genetics courses for nonbiology majors in U.S. colleges and universities

A Vision for University Biology Education for Non-science Majors

As college science educators, we must prepare all future college graduates to be engaged, science-literate citizens. Yet data suggest that most college biology classes as currently taught do little to make science truly useful for students' lives and provide few opportunities for students to practice skills needed to be key decision makers in their communities. This is especially important for our non-science majors, as they represent the vast majority (82%) of college students. In this essay, we identify three critical aspects of useful college science education to prepare science literate non-science majors: prioritize local socioscientific issues; highlight communal opportunities in science that impact students' communities; and provide students with opportunities to practice skills necessary to engage with science beyond the classroom.

Using Anthropological Principles to Transform the Teaching of Human "Difference" and Genetic Variation in College Classrooms

Exposure to information about genetics is at an all-time high, while a full understanding of the biocultural complexity of human difference is low. This paper demonstrates the value of an "anthropological approach" to enhance genetics education in biology, anthropology, and other related disciplines, when teaching about human differences such as race/ethnicity, sex/gender, and disability. As part of this approach, we challenge educators across social and natural sciences to critically examine and dismantle the tacit cultural assumptions that shape our understanding of genetics and inform the way we perceive (and teach about) human differences. It calls on educators from both social and natural science disciplines to "de-silo" their classrooms and uses examples from our biological anthropology and sociocultural anthropology classrooms, to demonstrate how educators can better contextualize the "genetics" of human difference in their own teaching. Numerous opportunities to transform our teaching exist, and we are doing a disservice to our students by not taking these critical steps.