INFUSING SOCIAL CONTEXT IN BIOLOGY TEACHING

It is imperative that developmental biologists learn of the possible social consequences of their work and of the possible molding of their discipline by social forces. For today’s biology students may be given more physical and social power than any group of people before them. – Scott Gilbert and Anne Fausto Sterling Biology is front page news, so it is important that we teach students to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they see in everyday life. As biology researchers, we recognize the negative impli-cations of doing science in a vacuum as we are increas-ingly asked to communicate effectively with local and national legislators. As biology instructors, however, we may choose to teach biology devoid of social context, believing that students can make these connections o