There is revolutionary work going on in many of the disciplines, especially in the life sciences and earth sciences, which means we are continually updating the curriculum. Just this year, courses in neurobiology, meteorology, and conservation biology were added. Space for working scientists both students and faculty Nick Malmquist, '00, a chemistry-biology major, works in the lab with professor Skip Wade. Such instruction requires smaller classes. Even such introductory courses as general chemistry today very seldom have more than 50 students.
Instruction also is discovery based,' more hands-on, especially in some disciplines such as physics.
In 1980 the prevailing model for teaching physics, for example, consisted of classroom lecture with assignments and parallel laboratory courses, explained associate professor of physics Fred Moore. The new model uses an interactive, activity-based, seminar approach with heavy emphasis on original laboratory or field research. Indeed, the most significant change in the science scene at Whitman in the last 20 years and all across the campus as well is the amount of original research that takes place. In 1980, no science department required a student research project. Only physics has no required senior project, but most physics majors do one anyway.