Liberal Education in a Technological Age: The Education of aScientifically-Literate Society

技术时代的通识教育：具有科学素养的社会的教育

• 批准号: 9652145
• 负责人: William Green
• 金额: $ 19.81万
• 依托单位: University of Rochester
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-09-01 至 2000-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9652145&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Liberal; Education; Technological; Age; aScientifically

Recently adopted changes in the curriculum at the University of Rochester requires every Humanities and Social Science major to take at least three cohesively related courses in the Natural Science / Engineering / Mathematics area (a Cluster). It presents the University with an opportunity to examine the educational experience of non-majors in this area and to change the way the Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics are presented to non majors. This proposal has brought together a cross-disciplinary group of Natural Science / Engineering / Mathematics faculty to explore the development of a new curriculum that can produce an institution-wide reform in undergraduate science education. This proposal is a natural extension of significant changes in undergraduate science education for science majors that were achieved with the introduction of Quest Courses. The funds requested will be used to initiate similar changes in the science curriculum for non-science majors. The courses that will be developed as part of this program will apply an inquiry-based approach in which students will be exposed to the scientific method. They will address the larger view of science, by exploring what constitutes a scientific theory, by providing students with the opportunity to engage in scientific hypothesis testing in the laboratory, and by examining the writings of scientists and their humanist contemporaries about the worldview that science provides. Rather than "show and tell'' we will focus on the process of discovery. This process will not only be used to teach the basic principles of science, but will also be studied from a historical perspective. Most of the funds requested for the development of these courses will be used to provide teaching relief for the faculty involved, providing them with an opportunity to focus on course development for one semester. In addition, we will create study/writing groups to support the students taking these courses, and to carry out an in-depth assessment of the succe ss of the envisioned innovations. The courses developed will be offered for at least three consecutive years and workshops will be organized at the end of each year to evaluate the success of our innovations. Computer technology will be used extensively in several of the proposed courses, and the University will provide matching funds for the purchase of the required equipment. These funds, and the waiver of indirect cost recovery, combined with the funds that were invested by the University in the Quest Program clearly indicates the commitment of the University to institution-wide reform of undergraduate education.

罗切斯特大学最近通过的课程改革要求每个人文和社会科学专业的学生至少修读三门自然科学/工程学/数学领域的相关课程。它为大学提供了一个机会，可以检查非专业人员在这一领域的教育经验，并改变科学，工程和数学向非专业人员提供的方式。这项建议汇集了自然科学/工程/数学教师的跨学科小组，探讨新课程的发展，可以产生一个机构范围内的本科科学教育的改革。 这项建议是一个自然延伸的重大变化，本科科学教育的科学专业，是实现了探索课程的介绍。申请的资金将用于启动非科学专业科学课程的类似改革。将作为该计划的一部分开发的课程将采用基于探究的方法，学生将接触到科学方法。他们将通过探索什么构成科学理论，为学生提供在实验室进行科学假设检验的机会，并通过检查科学家及其人文主义同时代人关于科学提供的世界观的著作，来解决科学的更大视野。而不是“展示和讲述”，我们将专注于发现的过程。这一过程不仅将用于教授科学的基本原理，而且还将从历史的角度进行研究。 开发这些课程所需的大部分资金将用于为有关教师提供教学救济，为他们提供一个集中开发课程的机会。此外，我们将创建学习/写作小组，以支持学生参加这些课程，并对设想的创新的成功进行深入评估。开发的课程将至少连续三年提供，并在每年年底组织研讨会，以评估我们创新的成功。 拟议的几门课程将广泛使用计算机技术，联合国大学将提供相应资金购买所需设备。这些资金，以及间接成本回收的豁免，与大学在探索计划中投入的资金相结合，清楚地表明了大学对本科教育全机构改革的承诺。