Seeing the Big Picture: Linking the Sciences and the Humanities

跨学科(99)这一课程改进的机构倡议是为非理科专业的新生建立寄宿学习社区(LC)。现有的两套新生课程--面向非理科专业的实验室科学(科学-104)和人文研讨会(人文-101)--正在通过一个共同的主题联系在一起，以创造多学科的学习体验。该项目是几个值得注意的教育创新的改编：(1)学习社区，例如美国大学和大学协会(AAC&Amp；U)所描述的学习社区类型，“学习社区在普通教育中的使用”。(2)瓦格纳计划(纽约瓦格纳学院)，强调大学的普通教育计划是其学习重点，并在大一期间在学习社区提供跨学科的体验式学习，帮助学生整合他们的知识和发展他们的学术优先事项。(3)连接科学和人文的多学科课程。其中一些奖项来自NSF-NEH早些时候在一项名为“科学与人文：整合本科教育”的计划下颁发的联合奖项。一个例子是霍利奥克社区学院在1993年的拨款“人文、社会科学和自然科学课程中的跨学科学习社区”下开发和教授的课程。其他课程则来自AAC&Amp；University赞助的Sencer研讨会上的课程材料(Sencer=新公民参与和责任的科学教育)。在两年的资助期内，总共开发和实施了六个学习社区(代表12门新课程)。每个LC的“教学团队”由一名科学家、一名人文主义者和两名本科助教组成。2002年秋季提供的三个学习社区是“水的自然和文化”(由生物学和英语教师讲授)、宇宙学和终极问题(物理和哲学)以及科学和医学突破的影响(生物和哲学)。2003年秋季将提供三个新的学习社区。其中两个是疯狂：科学和文学观点(由心理学和英语教师教授)，以及科学侦探和犯罪的社会影响(化学和哲学)。第六个学习社区正在规划中。每个LC将包括开放式科学探究、体验式学习(强调面向K-12学生)和教育技术的广泛应用。计划的目标是1)消除特定学科的知识划分，帮助学生整合跨学科的信息；2)承认并进一步发展资优学长的创造力和教学技能，将他们纳入教学伙伴；3)激励新生成为积极的学习者和讲师，提供更具互动性的学习环境；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术优先事项；6)在整个计划中整合学生和教师的技术应用。每个教学团队都参加了为期两周的暑期研讨会，然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计划评估计划。每个LC都在维护一个不断发展的网页，记录该计划的开发、实施和评估。

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.