New Core Curriculum and Scientific Literacy

Montana State University, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

Project Abstract SES 0338573 Adele Pittendrigh, Montana State University "New Core Curriculum and Scientific Literacy" Faculty members at Montana State University are spearheading two new initiatives, one directed at the undergraduate curriculum and the other at the graduate curriculum. The undergraduate component has been supported in its development by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It features a new integrated curriculum featuring the promotion of scientific literacy through investigations of the interaction between science and society. The graduate component will be developed during the coming academic year, it will feature a new program in the history of science and technology and in environmental history. The two components connect through the development of courses aimed at the undergraduate community but drawn from faculty and students participating in the new graduate program. Importantly, this SGER is sought, first to develop the scientific literacy component of the new core through assessing experimental courses focused specifically on enhancing scientific literacy among non-science majors and, second, to establish an administrative model to maintain the quality of the core curriculum courses. What makes this proposal truly unique and beneficial is its comparative assessment of the literacy component between traditional non-science courses and courses designed to investigate the interaction between science and society.