A New Undergraduate Program in Freshwater Sciences

华盛顿大学正在为本科生创建一个独特的淡水科学项目。该计划在校园内的不同单元之间进行协调，通过增加学生的实验室和实地机会，更加强调动手研究，并提供新的和修改的课程，更加强调沟通技巧。我们的目标是制定一个反映国家在淡水科学方面的领导地位的计划，并成为其他机构的榜样，正如淡水势在必行和NRC湖沼学委员会所呼吁的那样。这两个委员会都强调了淡水科学中协调的、多学科的教学计划和以本科生为重点的实验学习计划的必要性。此外，该项目改编自ASLO“湖沼学委员会的挑战”（Lewis， 1995年）题为“美国和加拿大湖沼学的挑战：1990年代该学科的评估”的报告，该报告指出，目前美国淡水科学的重点和课程设置主要针对研究生。这个项目将模范研究生课程的元素改编成适合本科专业的课程。这个项目已经统一了校园内现有的课程，并为本科生增加了淡水科学机会的可见度。我们的课程使我们能够适应和实施几个国家本科教育审查所要求的改革，这些审查强调需要增加实验室和现场经验。该项目还在学习淡水科学的本科生中建立了一种更大的社区意识，使他们能够在本科职业生涯的早期确定相关课程并获得指导，并培养“准备工作”的毕业生。期望该计划的毕业生将具备以下能力：识别关键的水生资源问题，评估和区分事实与意见，协调不同的观点，解释问题并教育他人，收集和分析数据，清晰有效地写作。

The University of Washington is creating a unique program in Freshwater Sciences for undergraduates. The program is coordinated among different units across campus, places a greater emphasis on hands-on research through increased laboratory and field opportunities for students, and offers new and modified courses that place greater emphasis on communication skills. Our goal is to develop a program that reflects national leadership in freshwater science and becomes a model for other institutions as called for in the Freshwater Imperative and the NRC Committee on Limnology. Both of these committees stressed the need for coordinated, multidisciplinary teaching programs in freshwater sciences and for programs with experimental learning focused on undergraduates. In addition, the project is adapted from the report of the ASLO "Challenges for Limnology Committee (Lewis, 1995) entitled "Challenges for Limnology in the United States and Canada: an assessment of the discipline in the 1990's," which indicated that the current focus and course offerings in freshwater sciences in the United States are aimed primarily at graduate students. This project is adapting elements of a model graduate program into a curriculum suitable for undergraduate majors. Already this program is unifying existing courses across campus and increasing the visibility of freshwater science opportunities for undergraduates. Our program enables us to adapt and implement reforms called for by several national reviews of undergraduate education which have stressed the need for increased laboratory and field experiences. The program also is establishing a greater sense of community among undergraduates studying freshwater science, enabling them to identify relevant coursework and receive guidance earlier in their undergraduate careers, and producing "work-ready" graduates. It is expected that program graduates will have the ability to: identify critical aquatic resource issues, evaluate and separate fact from opinion, coordinate disparate viewpoints, explain issues and educate others, collect and analyze data, and write clearly and effectively.