National biology learning objectives and assessment questions often overlook science’s connection to society

Making connections between science and societal or cultural issues in biology courses may lead to increases in students’ engagement, ability to recognize the potential for biology to advance social change, and ultimately their retention in the discipline. One common way to make these connections is via the incorporation of socioscientific issues. Using a rubric we created and refined, we evaluated learning objectives and practice assessment questions from 16 national biology education frameworks and assessments (n = 2890) for the presence of these connections to societal or cultural issues. As tools to support instructors to design their courses at both the college-preparatory and undergraduate levels, we contend that whether content is connected with societal or cultural issues will, in part, depend on whether these connections are prioritized via inclusion in learning objectives and assessment questions. We found connections between science content and societal or cultural issues in only 7% (n = 213) of the items reviewed. Further, these connections were often implicit, rather than explicitly stated. The items where these connections were made most often related to topics such as ethics or public health. Nearly 40% (n = 83) of the items that made these connections did so by relating to a socioscientific issue. The dearth of connections between biology content and societal or cultural issues highlights an opportunity for growth in promoting sociopolitical consciousness in biology curricula and the lack of prioritization in these biology education resources.