About CBE


Mission

The mission of the Center for Biology Education is to mobilize and enhance the resources of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to promote excellence in biology education.

History

UW-Madison has vast resources in the biological sciences, including numerous highly trained and talented researchers and educators, located in 68 departments and programs.

The Center for Biology Education was founded in 1988-89 with funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and from the University of Wisconsin to foster collaborative education initiatives across the campus and to improve biology education at all levels. The Center's role is to:

  • Encourage faculty, future faculty and staff to develop innovative teaching methods and instructional resources
  • Help to translate the excitement of research into classrooms
  • Facilitate faculty participation in outreach
  • Promote interdisciplinary activities
  • Increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the biological sciences
  • Coordinate, nurture, and help to fund education initiatives

Program Objectives

Undergraduate Biology Education and Faculty Enhancement Programs:

  • Provide programs and build community to improve undergraduate biology education
  • Enhance access to information and resources about biology teaching and learning
  • Promote undergraduate participation in research
  • Collaborate with other UW System undergraduate science education initiatives
  • Foster and facilitate faculty leadership for systemic change

K-12 Biology Education and Outreach Programs:

  • Promote inquiry-based approaches to learning
  • Build long-term partnerships among UW-Madison biologists, teachers and community members
  • Provide professional development opportunities for teachers
  • Enhance science career opportunities for all students
  • Catalyze K-12 science education reform

Logo

The Center for Biology Education's logo represents the diversity and universality of biology as well as the Center's commitment to biology education. The globe symbolizes the world of biology and also the broadest scope of biology on earth - the ecosphere. In contrast, the double helix represents the molecular level of biology and the basic blueprint of life. The helix spirals down into an abstract motif that could be interpreted in many ways - curving pages of an open book, wings of a bird in flight, seed or leaf patterns in the plant kingdom.