Why WhyBiology?

“I can’t do this anymore………”

It was almost 10 years ago that I said this to a class of almost 200 students in a movie theater (sorry, lecture hall) on the campus of Appalachian State University.  It was the second week of class, and I was about to embark on a non-Ted talk on the atomic structure of the elements. I was done.

 For the previous decade, I had stood in front of students in classrooms ranging from military bases to rural community colleges and regional universities. Despite their diversity, they all shared one common factor – they were not ever going to be scientists. This was non-majors biology, aka “baby” bio, aka introductory biology. The course that students took when their program of study said science sequence required. They wanted to be in a science class as much as I disliked literature classes when I was in their seats.

 I was doing this all wrong. This wasn’t how you educate people. This wasn’t how I learn new ideas. Everything in this environment was set for failure. Collectively, we were all fucked.

 Something needed to be changed.

A few months before, my lawnmower broke, again. To be honest, I don’t think it broke as much as I broke it. However, that is not really the point. I’d decided that I was going to fix it.  I had no idea of how to do that. I know nothing about gas engines. I’m a non-mechanic, this is completely outside of my understanding.

 What did I do? Did I take a course from a college in the history of combustion engines? No, I did a Google search on the topic, and then scrolled to the relevant areas that told me how to fix the problem.  I ended up on a YouTube channel entitled for people who have broken their lawnmower and need help. Yes, there are experts out there for everything, including science.

 I scrubbed past the irrelevant information until I found my solution. That is the reality of education as a human. We gather the information that is needed to solve the problem and applied it to the situation. We aren’t designed to store information, we have evolved to 9 information.

 Back to the classroom. What really happened that day?

 “I can’t do this anymore… look to your left and right, 2 of you will get cancer and one of you will die from it.  What would you like to know?”

 And then the hands went up. The questions they asked challenged me. I would go home at night and research their questions, they engaged in the classroom. Did I reach everyone? No. No educator has a 100% success evaluation unless they provide pizza and beer to everyone. Success in education should never be measured as pass-fail. It’s about planting seeds.

 I spent the rest of the semester building what would be the prototype of what Why Biology? would look like. Scenarios that engaged students to learn more about their bodies, their world, and most importantly, how science was a partner in their journey.

 I had a student come to me, one of her parents was going through chemotherapy. She was not a scientist. She told me that, after this class,  she could at least understand and ask questions to the doctor.

 Sometimes, we can find a solution.

 And just for the record, I receive no royalties for WhyBiology?, but decided to rather accept a yearly consulting fee for revisions and new content. Because if you want to really Change Biology?, you need to address the root issues. Profit is not one of them.

 My hope is that someone out there, maybe an aspiring author, looks at this and thinks it was a nice attempt, but they can do better. That would definitely make me smile, because at that point we are moving our understanding of how science fits into society forward. I’m proud to take a first step, and to let others take the banner. 

 Science is not for scientists, it is for all of us. Our species needs to recognize that for the sake of our survival.

 Maybe, hopefully,  this project is a step in that direction.

 To learn more about my efforts to innovate science education, see my Inspire EdVentures project and listen to our podcast.