Krista Peppers, the coordinator for general education biology, explained that there would still only be one course offered, but during registration students can choose to take a class emphasizing one of three different things.

"There will be an emphasis on environmental biology, an emphasis on human biology and a course that covers the general biology concepts," she said.

Peppers said the basic goals of the general education biology course would still be the same.

"The course is designed for people who are not going to major in science," she said. "We think there is a need for people to be literate about science so that they can make good decisions about health care and public policy."

Peppers said the biggest emphasis of the course now and after the change is teaching students how science works.

"Students might have taken a great AP science class, but most high schools don't offer that," she said.

Peppers said the current course design is no better or worse than the new design, but the department is hoping to better serve students, beyond just allowing them to choose what interests them.

"Gen. ed. biology also serves as a prerequisite course for people going into a science-related field," she said. "With a little bit of redesigning, we think we could serve those groups better."

Peppers said the spring classes will be a trial run for the change in Biology 1400, and that the department is relying on the Academic Advising Center and advisers to help students choose the class with the right emphasis. She said the department offers as many as 32 sections of the course in a given semester and based on interest, 50 percent of the courses will emphasize human biology, 15 percent to 20 percent will emphasize environmental biology and the rest will be general concepts courses, much like what has been available.

Peppers said it is important that students know that it is still a single course that's offered, and that any of the three emphases will fulfill the general education requirement for everyone.

To find out which emphasis a course is when registering for classes, Peppers said to look under the "attributes" column of the "Look Up Classes" program on URSA. The attributes column previously showed students the fee required for the course, but when registering for spring classes it will also show the emphasis of the course.

Sophomore Christy Gill said she wishes the emphases were offered when she took general education biology.

"I would have chosen environmental biology because it would have contained information I am interested in," Gill said. "I like the idea of three different concentrations."

Sophomore Mandy Masino said she thinks the new design of the course will help freshmen who are unsure about their major to choose a course of study. She said that, although she wasn't able to choose an emphasis, the class was positive.

"If I had to choose, I would have chosen human biology because that is what I am interested in, but I took gen. ed. biology last year and didn't have a choice, and I really enjoyed my class. Of course some parts were more interesting than others, but I learned a lot," she said.