A New Course: "The Social Dimensions of Science"

新课程：“科学的社会维度”

• 批准号: 9652983
• 负责人: Robert Crease
• 金额: $ 5.18万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-01-01 至 1999-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9652983&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: New; Course; Social; Dimensions; Science

This proposal seeks to develop and implement an innovative, introductory-level (second year) multidisciplinary course on The Social Dimensions of Science geared specifically for prospective SEM researchers and teachers who have strong science and math backgrounds. The course will be designed to accomplish two primary objectives: 1) help students become aware that science does not occur within a vacuum, but operates within a context that is shaped by a complex array of factors relating to societal, cultural, political, economic and personal aspects; and 2) provide this awareness through a curriculum that provides traditional academic instruction and a "field experience" in which students relate these factors to work by active scientists, as well as to the scientists' personal experiences. The course will involve an interdisciplinary examination of various aspects, as well as a field project in which students link the academic content with the real, going scientific/technological practice of scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Through such linkage, they will gain an appreciation of how science operates in a "real world" context and be more effectively prepared for the scientific and technical environments of the future. The Social Dimensions course seeks to address the limitations of typical undergraduate SEM curricula, which seek primarily to impart a disciplinary-based foundation and technical skills, but do not prepare students for the real world in which science has a history, functions in relation to society's values and activities, derives its support from patrons who perceive its product as beneficial, and is carried out by individual human beings who are absorbed and preoccupied by their work and who operate within or against socially-mediated "paradigms." While most universities, including Stony Brook, have general education requirements intended to broaden students' perspectives, they tend to offer a spectrum of choices from which science students rarely find courses tha t fill their need to understand their own discipline. The proposed course seeks to fill this gap. The course is innovative in its establishment of partnerships with scientists outside of the university to serve as teachers and role models. In its emphasis on social issues, its should be especially beneficial to women and minority members. Moreover, since all of the BNL scientists are women, the students will gain insight into the unique position of women in SEM environments and into ways successful women have responded or accommodated themselves to these environments. Other related objects are: 1) to train a cadre of Stony Brook faculty and BNL scientists in key disciplines (SEM, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, History) who endorse the interdisciplinary thrust of the proposed course, are knowledgeable of the issues being addressed by it, and are capable and committed to teaching it; 2) to foster and facilitate ongoing collaborative teaching and mentoring arrangements with scientists at BNL and other regional research/development establishments in ways that use their unique perspectives and personal histories and enrich the scientists' experiences as well as those of the students; and 3) to create a model, using a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, that can be readily integrated into the regular Stony Brook SEM curriculum and replicated or adapted for SEM students at other universities.

这项建议旨在开发和实施一门创新的、入门水平(二年级)的关于科学的社会层面的多学科课程，专门面向具有深厚科学和数学背景的未来结构分析研究人员和教师。本课程旨在实现两个主要目标：1)帮助学生意识到科学不是在真空中发生的，而是在一系列与社会、文化、政治、经济和个人方面有关的复杂因素塑造的背景下运作的；2)通过提供传统学术指导和“实地体验”的课程来提供这种意识，在这种情况下，学生将这些因素与活跃的科学家的工作以及科学家的个人经历联系起来。这门课程将涉及各个方面的跨学科考试，以及一个实地项目，在这个项目中，学生们将学术内容与布鲁克海文国家实验室科学家真实的、正在进行的科学/技术实践联系起来。通过这种联系，他们将了解科学如何在“现实世界”的背景下运作，并为未来的科学和技术环境做好更有效的准备。《社会维度》课程旨在解决典型本科生理工科课程的局限性，这些课程主要寻求传授以学科为基础的基础和技术技能，但并没有让学生为现实世界做好准备，在现实世界中，科学具有历史，与社会的价值观和活动有关，得到了认为其产品有益的赞助人的支持，由专注于自己工作的个人实施，他们在社会中介的“范例”中运作或反对。虽然包括石溪在内的大多数大学都有旨在拓宽学生视野的普通教育要求，但它们往往提供一系列选择，理科学生很少从这些选择中找到满足他们理解自己学科需求的课程。拟议中的课程旨在填补这一空白。这门课程的创新之处在于，它与大学以外的科学家建立了合作伙伴关系，作为教师和榜样。在强调社会问题时，它应该特别有利于妇女和少数群体成员。此外，由于BNL的所有科学家都是女性，学生们将深入了解女性在SEM环境中的独特地位，以及成功女性如何应对或适应这些环境。其他相关目标是：1)培养一支石溪学院和BNL关键学科(扫描电子显微镜、哲学、政治学、社会学、历史学)科学家的骨干队伍，他们支持拟议课程的跨学科主旨，了解该课程所涉及的问题，并有能力并致力于教授该课程；2)促进和促进与BNL和其他区域研究/发展机构的科学家持续合作的教学和指导安排，利用他们独特的视角和个人历史，丰富科学家和学生的经验；3)利用多学科和协作的方法创建一种模式，该模式可以很容易地整合到石溪理工学院的常规课程中，并适用于其他大学的理工科学生。