Workshop:
Teaching and Assessing Non-Majors Courses
HHMI Program Directors
Meeting, Oct. 11-13 1999
Moderator, Joan
L. Slonczewski,
Program Director, Kenyon
College
This workshop will address the special challenges undergraduate faculty
face in teaching science to college students who have chosen not to major
in science, and in providing science outreach to K-12 students. We
will focus on the following questions. For each question, the moderator
will discuss possible strategies to pursue, drawn from successful programs
such as the Biology in Science Fiction
course for non-science majors, the HHMI-funded pre-first-year Math/Science
Workshop, and the Elementary School
Scientists outreach program. For each question, workshop participants
will be invited to respond and share their own strategies.
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What is the main goal of a course
for non-science majors, or a pre-college outreach program? What will
the students learn or achieve from their experience? Will the course
emphasize key principles of science? The process of discovery?
Relevance to society?
-
Is this course or program required,
or must students be attracted to enroll? How will students be recruited?
How will the course engage students’ interest, and connect with their own
experience?
-
What learning styles do students
bring to the course? What techniques will reach them successfully,
avoiding intimidation while building on their strengths?
-
How do new learning technologies
impact the classroom? What are the benefits? The pitfalls?
-
Can we include lab experience?
Classroom demonstrations? Interactive engagement?
-
How is the individual progress
of students assessed? How are the overall goals of the course assessed?