An examination of curriculum articulation in Wisconsin high school and post-secondary introductory biology courses

This study examined survey responses and interviews from introductory biology instructors from Wisconsin Public Schools and the University of Wisconsin System campuses about their enacted curriculum.;The study contributes to the research literature on articulation by providing an analysis of what content is taught and what the similarities and differences are between content and cognitive load in Wisconsin public high schools and University of Wisconsin System introductory biology courses. This study used a version of the Survey of Enacted Curriculum developed by Porter and Smithson (2001).;The Survey of Enacted Curriculum is a multiple-choice survey that examines whether an instructor teaches a given topic, how much time they spend on the topic, and the cognitive load demanded of the student while studying the topic (Porter and Smithson, 2001). The instrument allowed for the development of curriculum content "maps" which provided graphic representation of the level of curriculum alignment high school and University of Wisconsin System Introductory Biology classes.;Although the survey and interview data were too small to allow for conclusions that could be generalized to the entire state of Wisconsin, this study does suggests that the curricula of the Introductory Biology classes is very similar between the Wisconsin public high school and the University of Wisconsin System Introductory Biology classes. This similarity of curriculum seems to be maintained without a significant amount of contact between university instructors and high school teachers. This study suggests that the curricular alignment is maintained through the use of textbooks and through the mechanism of "you teach what you are taught".;Ironically this alignment and its maintenance may not be what is truly desirable. The university faculty interviews suggest that more emphasis may be needed in the areas of critical thinking skills. If this it true it may mean that all instructors along with textbook publishers may need to rethink the roles of the post-secondary and high school instructor, the curricular materials they use, what the student is taught, and what their relationship to one another should be.