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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.