Reforming the teaching content on basic ecology in grassland science courses

Fundamental ecology, or basic ecology, is the study of organismal diversity and of the interactions between organisms and their environments and is an elementary field of grassland science. The state-compiled textbook of basic ecology is relatively general because it must be applied to many undergraduate programs. However, there is a need to update the teaching content of grassland science textbooks to reflect advances in basic ecology. First, by systematizing the knowledge hierarchy, highlighting ideological and political elements, and expanding the teaching methods, this study demonstrated the need to reform the teaching content of basic ecology for grassland science. Second, methods by which to reform the basic ecology content, including improving instructional programs, extending knowledge points of basic ecology into grassland science, adding cases that are oriented from life, and refining ideological and political elements, were discussed. This study proposes the preparation of lessons with mutual evaluation among peers, simulative teaching, and teaching using videos and symposiums to improve the learning experience for students of grassland science. Taken together, these findings were used to establish a teaching pattern of basic ecology for grassland science. This pattern was evaluated by students and found to achieve improved teaching and learning effects, with over 86% satisfaction among undergraduates. Thus, this study provides a reference for the reform of basic ecology for grassland science in university courses.