Seeing the Big Picture: Linking the Sciences and the Humanities

纵观全局：连接科学与人文

• 批准号: 0126788
• 负责人: Ellen Goldey
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Wofford College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-15 至 2004-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0126788&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Seeing; Big; Picture; Linking; Sciences

Interdisciplinary (99)This institutional initiative for curriculum improvement is establishing freshman residential learning communities (LC) for non-science majors. Two sets of existing freshman courses, laboratory science for non-science majors (Science-104) and humanities seminar (Humanities-101), are being linked by a common theme to create multidisciplinary learning experiences. The project is an adaptation of several noteworthy educational innovations:(1) Learning communities, such as the type described by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), "Use of Learning Communities in General Education." (2) The Wagner Plan (of Wagner College in NY), which stresses the general education program of a college as its learning keystone, and provides interdisciplinary, experiential learning in learning communities during the freshman year to help students integrate their knowledge and develop their academic priorities. (3) Multidisciplinary courses bridging science and the humanities. Some of these are derived from earlier NSF-NEH joint awards made under a program known as "Science and Humanities: Integrating Undergraduate Education." An example is courses developed and taught at Holyoke Community College under a 1993 grant "Interdisciplinary Learning Communities in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Science Courses." Others are derived from course materials being taught at SENCER workshops sponsored by the AAC&U. (SENCER = Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities.)A total of six learning communities (representing 12 new courses) are being developed and implemented during the two-year grant period. The "teaching team" for each LC consists of a scientist, a humanist, and two undergraduate teaching assistants. The three learning communities offered in the Fall of 2002 are "The Nature and Culture of Water (taught by faculty in biology and English), Cosmology and Ultimate Questions (physics and philosophy), and The Impact of Breakthroughs in Science and Medicine (biology and philosophy). Three new learning communities are being offered in the Fall of 2003. Two of these are Madness: Scientific and Literary Perspectives (taught by faculty in psychology and English), and Scientific Sleuthing and the Social Impact of Crime (chemistry and philosophy). A sixth learning community is being planned. Each LC will include open-ended scientific inquiry, experiential learning (emphasizing outreach to K-12 students), and extensive use of educational technology.The program objectives are to 1) dispel the discipline-specific compartmentalization of knowledge and help students integrate information across disciplines, 2) acknowledge and further develop the creativity and teaching skills of gifted upperclassmen by including them as teaching partners, 3) inspire the freshmen to be active learners and the instructors to provide a more interactive learning environment, 4) emphasize the importance of the General Education program, 5) help first-year students focus their academic priorities, and 6) integrate student and faculty use of technology throughout the program. Each teaching team is participating in a two-week summer workshop followed by six weeks of collaborative course development. The workshops guide the teams in building successful learning communities and using the program evaluation plan. Each LC is maintaining a continuously evolving web page documenting the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program.

跨学科（99）这一课程改进的机构倡议是为非科学专业的新生建立住宿学习社区（LC）。两套现有的新生课程，非理工科专业的实验科学（理科-104）和人文学科研讨会（人文-101），将通过一个共同的主题联系起来，以创造多学科的学习体验。该项目是对几个值得注意的教育创新的改编：(1)学习型社区，例如美国学院和大学协会（AAC&amp；U）所描述的类型，“在普通教育中使用学习型社区”。(2) Wagner计划（Wagner College in NY），该计划强调学院的通识教育项目是其学习的基石，并在大一期间在学习社区提供跨学科的体验式学习，以帮助学生整合他们的知识并发展他们的学术重点。(3)衔接科学与人文学科的多学科课程。其中一些奖项来源于早期NSF-NEH联合颁发的“科学与人文：整合本科教育”项目。一个例子是1993年霍利奥克社区学院在“人文、社会科学和自然科学课程的跨学科学习社区”的资助下开发和教授的课程。其他的则是来自于由AAC&amp；U赞助的SENCER研讨会的课程材料。（SENCER =新公民参与和责任的科学教育。）在两年赠款期间，正在发展和执行总共六个学习社区（代表12门新课程）。每个LC的“教学团队”由一名科学家、一名人文学者和两名本科生助教组成。2002年秋季提供的三个学习社区是“水的本质和文化”（由生物学和英语教师讲授）、“宇宙学和终极问题”（物理学和哲学）以及“科学和医学突破的影响”（生物学和哲学）。2003年秋季将提供三个新的学习社区。其中两门课程是《疯狂：科学与文学视角》（由心理学和英语系教授）和《科学侦探与犯罪的社会影响》（化学和哲学）。第六个学习社区正在计划中。每个LC将包括开放式科学探究、体验式学习（强调向K-12学生推广）和广泛使用教育技术。该课程的目标是：1)消除学科知识的划分，帮助学生整合跨学科的信息；2)承认并进一步发展有天赋的高年级学生的创造力和教学技能，让他们成为教学伙伴；3)激励新生成为积极的学习者，教师提供更互动的学习环境；4)强调通识教育计划的重要性。5)帮助一年级学生专注于他们的学业重点，6)在整个项目中整合学生和教师对技术的使用。每个教学团队将参加为期两周的夏季研讨会，随后是为期六周的合作课程开发。研讨会指导团队建立成功的学习社区并使用项目评估计划。每个LC都在维护一个不断发展的网页，记录项目的开发、实施和评估。