Leaving cert Biology

steddyeddy

Hey guys I have heard numerous lecturers complain about the leaving cert Biology syllabus. Having looked at the syllabus I can sort of see their point its seriously lacking in real information needed to help a student learn biology. The lecturers I have talked to have tried to aproach the department of education about this but been shouted down. What do you think of the syllabus?

Craguls

steddyeddy wrote: »

Hey guys I have heard numerous lecturers complain about the leaving cert Biology syllabus. Having looked at the syllabus I can sort of see their point its seriously lacking in real information needed to help a student learn biology. The lecturers I have talked to have tried to aproach the department of education about this but been shouted down. What do you think of the syllabus?

It's not perfect but it's a good introduction. Mind you they could correct minor details eg there's a lot of small errors in the Immune system chapters that kinda skqueue things down the line

IrishKnight

Personally I think the biggest problem, and this applies to other subjects, is that they don't teach to get the students to understand, but rather just to learn off facts...

nozzferrahhtoo

That has always been the problem, and not just in Ireland. I guess the reason is that memory is a lot easier to test than understanding. A shame but it is true.

IrishKnight

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

That has always been the problem, and not just in Ireland. I guess the reason is that memory is a lot easier to test than understanding. A shame but it is true.

True, didn't consider that. Shame...

steddyeddy

To be honest I think leaving cert biology wouldnt in anyway prepare me for studying biological scivences in college. The section on plants is woeful and doesnt help people understand how a plant works at a basic level.

Edelle McCrudden

Having taught Biology for a few years now I think that there is a massive problem with the learning off of definitions. Students have a real problem with this aspect yet when you get into the area of genetics and human biology there is massive scope for their interest which unfortunately is beaten out of them by learning off large definitions.

jimdeans

I found the mendelian genetics to be good when I started college and most of the human stuff.

The plant stuff completely flummoxed me at LC level and I was quite good at it when i got to uni.

Our UK undergrads seem to have a good understanding of biology when they arrive, so it might be worth looking at their syllabus.

steddyeddy

jimdeans wrote: »

I found the mendelian genetics to be good when I started college and most of the human stuff.

The plant stuff completely flummoxed me at LC level and I was quite good at it when i got to uni.

Our UK undergrads seem to have a good understanding of biology when they arrive, so it might be worth looking at their syllabus.

Well my major was biochemistry in fairness and I found nothing in the Biology syllabus that could have helped me. The plant stuff gives a really poor understanding of photosynthesis.

jimdeans

steddyeddy wrote: »

Well my major was biochemistry in fairness and I found nothing in the Biology syllabus that could have helped me. The plant stuff gives a really poor understanding of photosynthesis.

Agreed. But one subject in nine isn't enough to be getting into biochem in much detail, except for some basic rote learning of glycolysis/krebs cycle.

I loved biochem at uni, but it was more the general human biology stuff that I found more useful. Though I was definitely behind my classmates from the UK.

neevie21

The biggest problem I had with the Biology course was that i found that the subject was a complete misrepresentation of what the actual subject was like to study in college, and after getting an A1 in my leaving cert Bio, I really struggled with it in college

steddyeddy

neevie21 wrote: »

The biggest problem I had with the Biology course was that i found that the subject was a complete misrepresentation of what the actual subject was like to study in college, and after getting an A1 in my leaving cert Bio, I really struggled with it in college

Exactly the same problem I have with it. Leaving cert biology paints every system as static where as college gives a ore realistic idea of what its like. Is there any area of biology your struggling with in particular?

neevie21

im not struggling with it anymore, but in first year college it was like having to learn a completely different language, especially in my anatomy modules, neurophysiology I found really difficult. It took me an awful long time to adjust to actually having to understand the stuff, rather than just rote learning everything just for the point of getting through an exam, Im doing veterinary, so not understanding stuff is not an option!!

Improbable

I think that just like in university, there should be different levels and methods of approaching the subject. 1 for people who want to do biology at secondary but not take it up in college, and another for people who want to continue on and do a degree in a biology related subject. Should be the same for all of the sciences to be honest. It's a bit of a pipedream because it will never actually happen, but in an ideal system, that's how I think it would be.

Capt'n Midnight

Improbable wrote: »

I think that just like in university, there should be different levels and methods of approaching the subject. 1 for people who want to do biology at secondary but not take it up in college, and another for people who want to continue on and do a degree in a biology related subject. Should be the same for all of the sciences to be honest. It's a bit of a pipedream because it will never actually happen, but in an ideal system, that's how I think it would be.

On the other hand a lot of science and maths has to be retaught to first-years. I knew a chemistry lecturer in an RTC who was upset that so much of his time was wasted going over maths that the students really should have had before going on the course.

Most places will do tutorials on some subjects so students can catch up, and for other courses you can do a pre-qualifier or bridging course to cover some of the gaps.

But to be honest if you do a course where the pre-requisites are X, Y and Z but you only know X and Y then you will have to do a lot more work learning Z. If on the other hand third level institutes are finding that signifigant numbers of students are consistently appear not to have the basics then they should consider add additional additional modules for that, but and this is probably the key point they shouldn't hold back the rest of the class/year to do so.

KittyeeTrix

One of my gripes with LC Science is the practice of writing up experiments.............

Why are students not taught to write in the past tense??