Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities

在美国国家科学基金会的部分支持下，美国高校协会（AAC&amp；U）在1999-2000年期间为这个项目制定了框架——新公民参与和责任的科学教育（SENCER）。该框架是两次研讨会的产物，并听取了数百名大学教师和学术领袖的建议。迄今为止，来自250多所高等教育机构的团队已经要求参与SENCER的工作。SENCER正在帮助教师和管理人员实现三个重要目标：(1)改善非专业的科学教育；(2)将科学教育改革与改进的普通教育联系起来；(3)激发公民参与。SENCER方法是通过研究复杂的公共问题来教授科学，将科学教育与公民参与联系起来。例如，传感器模型通过研究艾滋病毒疾病或人类基因组计划来教授生物学；物理学：通过研究核裁军的挑战或关于宇宙起源的假设；化学通过研究空气污染、水质或犯罪；通过检验统计数据的可靠性、研究风险/收益分析或决策来学习数学。学生的结果是连接学习。SENCER寻求通过强化教师专业发展、强烈关注地方系统变革和使用改进的评估实践来促进本科SMET教育的大规模改革。SENCER教师正在学习使用一种评估工具，该工具是在几个国家科学基金会倡议的部分支持下开发的，以改善本科教育。该工具被称为学生学习成果评估（SALG），可在WWW.WCER.WISC.edu/NISE/CL1免费供公众使用。SENCER项目有四个关键部分。SENCER研究所是核心活动。这些是团队为基础的住宿学院，供教师、管理人员和计划启动SENCER方法的高级研究生使用。SENCER集群是由教师和管理人员组成的学科和面向问题的群体，其运作是为了提供持续的支持，并维持参与研究所所产生的改革努力。SENCER虚拟社区将创新者联系在一起，并支持传播支持改革的资源。SENCER领导倡议将国家的注意力和认可集中在示范性倡议上，以便为这种方法提供更多支持。

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.