Biology and Mathematics Integrated into a High School Subject

During a stint in the hospital, four nurses were in my room attending to my roommate and me. I heard this exchange.

Nurse 1: What is the use of calculus?

Nurse 2: I don't know I never had it. I could do algebra but I don't

know what calculus is for.

Nurse 3: I had trouble with algebra, but I got through it the second

time.

The nurses knew I was a mathematics teacher. So I felt the exchange was to comfort me. I didn't feel a need to respond.

These are exciting times in medicine, biology and mathematics. Advances in diabetes research, progress on many cancer fronts, a firmer grip on HIV/AIDS, implants for better heart care are a few advances in biology and medicine.

The mapping of the humane genome is our era's great achievement in modern biology. The breakthrough promises health care tailored to a patient's genetics. An application soon to be announced is better control of drug side effects. A desirable long-term goal is designing a richer life for each person.

Biologists, physiologist and medical researchers have come to realize the vast storages of mathematical knowledge and the benefits of mathematical modeling to research questions of bodily system and behavior. Committed to offer a better quality life, medical and biological researchers have created the new and exciting field of biomathematics.

In the high schools, mathematics and biology have traditionally been taught as separate subjects. BioMath in the Schools, a new book by Margaret B. Cozzens and Fred S. Roberts, reports interesting insights when biology and mathematics are integrated into a single high school subject.

The book has three parts.

The first part gives a rationale for integrating mathematics and biology in high school. It closes with opportunities to for the reader to try in a classroom.

The second part contains some thoughts of the teachers.

Third part explores some interconnections of these two fields in light of new technologies in biology. What works and does not work are addressed. It closes with positive student responses on the integration of biology and mathematics in their classes.

BioMath in the Schoolsboasts a readership including high school teachers, and education specialists.

ISBN: 978-0-8218-4295-9

This is a great source for leaders(classroom teacher or home schoolteachers) who wish to incorporated mathematics in biological discussions or biology in mathematical discussions. This writer believes this approach kindle students interest in both disciplines. And furthermore, the opening nurse's exchange will be confined into Thoughts-from-the-distant-past.