Seeing the Big Picture: Linking the Sciences and the Humanities

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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.