CTE Newsletter - Nov/Dec 2003 (Vol 16, No 2)
NSF's SENCER Program Encourages Participation by ISU Faculty Teams
Ardith Maney, Professor of Public Administration and Director of ISU's International Women in Science & Engineering (IWISE) program, had an opportunity to participate in the SENCER Summer Institute held in San Jose, California last August. Here she reports on what Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) is about. To learn more about the SENCER ideals click here.
The core idea of SENCER is to teach introductory science courses for majors and non-majors by engaging undergraduate students in major public issues such as HIV-AIDS (biology) and global climate change (chemistry, geology, environmental science). Some of the SENCER models have been developed by faculty at participating U.S. colleges and universities, including research universities like Duke, Rutgers, and Maryland, on the one hand, and ISU neighbors such as Wartburg, Coe, and Drake, on the other. These models can be seen on the SENCER website.
| "What.s a Political Scientist doing in a workshop for Chemists, Biologists and Environmental Scientists, etc?" |
Many of the pedagogical techniques incorporated into this project, which is supported by the NSF directorate on undergraduate education, will be familiar to you. They include learning communities, service-learning, involving students in their own learning, and innovative assessment of student learning. And in a period of budget stringency, the idea of one or more ISU faculty teams getting a grant from SENCER to attend their next summer institute and underwrite innovative curriculum development work in science education is enticing.
What's a political scientist doing in a workshop for chemists, biologists, environmental scientists, etc.? Besides my interest in civic engagement in my own classes, I have worked for the past three years to internationalize SENCER's programs. IWISE has been a partner, along with its affiliate organization, African Women in Science & Engineering (AWSE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and U.S. Agency for International Development (through its ALO program) on an initiative to encourage African universities to incorporate HIV-AIDS in its on-campus science courses and its community outreach programs. With assistance from IWISE participants Debra Mayer, Ebby Chagala, Caroline Lang'at, Kallunde Sibuga, and Mabel Imbuga, who have worked on joint research with ISU scientists since 1998, this successful program has led to the introduction of new courses at Kenyatta University, Egerton University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology, and Sokoine Agricultural University using HIV-AIDS and other public issues to engage students in their own learning.
All of those activities, plus work that SENCER and IWISE are also doing together in several former Soviet Union countries, embody the SENCER ideals. For more information about how you can apply for a SENCER curriculum development stipend, please look for the application forms for SSI'04 or you can contact Susan Yager or Ardith Maney.