two students walking outside a building on campus

Biology Major with Secondary Education Specialization, BS

Degree Requirements

Biology Majors with Secondary Education Specialization

The Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology with Secondary Education Specialization requires a minimum of 38 hours: the 20-hour core and at least 18 hours of required supporting courses.

Core
BI 102General Cellular Biology5
BI 103General Organismal Biology5
BI 301General Microbiology4
BI 333General Genetics4
BI 390Biology Seminar (Capstone Course)1
BI 395Research in Biology (Capstone Course)1
Subtotal20
Additional Hours
Students must complete the following courses to satisfy Kansas Teaching Standards.
Select 18 credit hours of supporting courses:18
BI 155Sexually Transmitted Disease1-5
or BI 325 Microbiology of Human Disease
BI 202Biology of Behavior3
BI 250Introduction to Human Anatomy3-4
or BI 275 Human Anatomy
BI 255Human Physiology4
or BI 330 Animal Physiology
BI 310Ecology3-4
or BI 300 Field Biology
BI 340Evolutionary Biology3
Subtotal35-41
Non-Biology Courses 1
MA 140Statistics3-5
or MA 151 Calculus & Analytic Geometry I
Select one of the following physics sequences:10
College Physics I
and College Physics II
General Physics I
and General Physics II
CH 151
CH 152
Fundamentals of Chemistry I
and Fundamentals of Chemistry II
10
CH 340
CH 342
Organic Chemistry I
and Organic Chemistry Lab I
5
Subtotal28-30
Total Hours83-91
1

These courses may be used to partially satisfy the 30-hour Natural Sciences Concentration

Natural Sciences Concentration 

The BS degree also requires a 30-hour Concentration to be chosen from the Natural Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics, Physics & Astronomy, or Computer Information Science). This Natural Sciences Concentration must be in departments other than the major, and must have at least 20 hours in one department. Natural Sciences Concentrations for the BS degree are limited to these courses: CH 151 Fundamentals of Chemistry I or above, PS 261 College Physics I or above, MA 116 College Algebra or above, CM 111 Introduction to Structured Programming or above.

To receive departmental approval as having competency for licensure in teaching biology at the secondary level, majors must complete a BS in Biology Secondary Education Specialization as outlined above. Completion of the 20-hour core, other major requirements, and appropriate course work within the Department of Education in science teaching methods will satisfy the State competency requirements for licensure in biology. See the Department of Biology and the Department of Education for details. The number of credit hours to graduate varies but is at least 140 credit hours.

Students seeking licensure to teach biology must be formally admitted to the University’s Professional Teacher Education Programs. For admission requirements, see Education in this catalog.