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.

Description:
CBE K-12/outreach programming goals are to:

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

History:
UW-Madison has vast resources in the biological sciences, including numerous highly trained and talented biologists, located in 68 departments and programs. The size and distributed nature of the biological sciences community on this campus challenge efforts to integrate biology education and foster collaborative education initiatives.

The Center for Biology Education was created in 1988-89 with funding from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant and from the University of Wisconsin. CBE was conceived as a cross-campus organization that would work with the far-flung biology faculty to improve biology education at every level. It would serve students at the university, K-12 students and teachers, and the general public. The founding faculty members -- from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the College of Letters and Science, the Schools of Medicine and Education, and the Division of Outreach Education -- recognized that the University's biology research community provided abundant resources to support such a wide range of educational initiatives. The concept for the Center was to create a more formal structure that would:

Encourage and support faculty and staff involvement in innovative teaching and instructional resource development
Support the translation of the excitement of biology research into classrooms
Facilitate faculty participation in outreach to high school biology teachers and to other UW-System biologists
Promote multidisciplinary activities
Increase minority participation in the biological sciences
Create the infrastructure to coordinate, nurture, and help to fund the activities listed above
Current CBE programs and activities focus on biology education for undergraduates and K-12 teachers and students.

Contact people:

Sarah Wright, (608) 265-9065, (email) Emily Loew, (608) 265-9065, (email)

Address:

Various Schools And Community Centers In The Madison Area Madison, WI varies (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.wisc.edu/cbe/

Directions:

varies