Eberly Center

Pathway Algebra For 21st Century Biology

Teaching Challenge:
Science is moving quickly, in particular in 21st century biology. There is an intellectual
capacity gap that we need students to be capable of filling. We need teachers who can
teach it.
Teacher preparation can be a significant roadblock to introducing new curricula. How do
you change teaching practices for teachers who have never been taught, not only how to
teach this content, but they have never even been taught the content? Especially when
there is no standard practice, how do you convince others to teach something new and
exciting?
TEL Tool Developed:
The genetics tutor teaches “pathway algebra” for 21st century biology. It provides a
vehicle to introduce state-of-the-art content to high schools on a large scale, as learning
by doing activities, with almost no teacher preparation. It has been used by college
freshman, biology majors and AP high school students.
I will bring a laptop for participants to try the tutor.

MacLaren, Benjamin
Corbett, Albert
McLaren, Bruce
SCS, HCII
Mitchell, Aaron
Lopez, Javier
SCS, Biological Sciences