Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities

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Interdisciplinary (99)The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) developed the framework for this project, Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER), during 1999-2000 with partial support from the NSF. The framework is the product of two workshops and advice from hundreds of college faculty and academic leaders. To date, teams from more than 250 institutions of higher education have asked to be included in SENCER's work. SENCER is helping faculty and administrators achieve three important goals: (1) improve science education for non-majors, (2) connect science education reform to improved general education, and (3) stimulate civic engagement. The SENCER approach is to connect science education with civic engagement by teaching science through the study of complex public issues. SENCER models are teaching, for example, biology through the study of HIV disease or the Human Genome Project; physics through the study of the challenges of nuclear disarmament or hypotheses about the origins of the universe; chemistry through the study of air pollution, water quality, or crime; and mathematics by examining the reliability of statistics, studying risk/benefit analysis, or decision-making. The outcome for students is connected learning. SENCER seeks to promote large-scale reform in undergraduate SMET education through intensive faculty professional development, a strong focus on local systemic change, and the use of improved assessment practices. SENCER faculty are learning to use an assessment instrument developed with partial support from several NSF initiatives to improve undergraduate education. This instrument is known as Student Assessment of Their Learning Gains (SALG) and is freely available for public use at WWW.WCER.WISC.edu/NISE/CL1. There are four key pieces of the SENCER project. SENCER Institutes are the core activity. These are team-based residential institutes for faculty, administrators, and advanced graduate students planning to initiate SENCER approaches. SENCER Clusters are both disciplinary and issue-oriented groups of faculty and administrators that operate to provide ongoing support and sustain reform efforts arising from participation in the Institutes. The SENCER Virtual Community links innovators together and supports dissemination of resources to support reform. The SENCER Leadership Initiatives are focusing national attention and recognition on exemplary initiatives in order to build additional support for this approach.