Description :  Progress in science and technology is increasingly dependent on individuals with an experientially-based understanding of the practice and process of scientific problem-solving whose thinking can transcend disciplinary boundaries. Traditionally, science and mathematics content are taught as discrete courses. Students often fail to make connections between disciplines. A required freshman and sophomore integrated science curriculum for all science, secondary science education, and mathematics education majors is the solution to this quandary. The curriculum is based on a similar effort in the Building Bridges program at Bryn Mawr College and on integrated engineering curricula that have been adopted nationwide. The curriculum is composed of six science courses, up to six mathematics courses, and a five-course “backbone” science laboratory/research series requiring students to work in cooperative groups to apply content from multiple courses to solve problems. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the design of a curriculum that demonstrates connections between the sciences and mathematics, while modeling for education majors the use of student-centered, standards-based instructional and assessment strategies. The first two years of the project focuses on development of materials and piloting classes. Full implementation occurs in the third year of the project. To ensure broad impact, curricular materials are produced for both custom and nationwide publication to disseminate the curricular model.

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Principal Investigator:  Carpenter, Jenna  --  Math & Statistics

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Collaborators:  Dawn Basinger – Education; Wes Colgan - Biology;Jay White – Biology; Danny Eddy – Chemistry; Pedro Derosa – Physics; Bernd Schroeder – Mathematics; Linda Ramsey – Biology; Lee Sawyer – Physics; Laura Wesson – Chemical Engineering

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Funding Agencies:  National Science Foundation

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Amount Awarded:  $123,291

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Start Period:  09/01/2003

End Period:  08/31/2006