Formulating meaningful public policy in a democracy requires voters and their representatives to grapple effectively with scientific information that pertains to the issues. Our most difficult challenge is providing students a structure for becoming learners who can find and organize infoImation pertaining to questions that are framed in a rapidly changing, global context. I am passionate about developing effective strategies to face this challenge. Students in several courses wiU design and carry out experiments which investigate specific aspects of a larger question.
Regular symposia allow synthesis of the results and sharing of information between research groups.
The over- arching goal is to model how scientific research is conducted and used to address real problems. This project will involve many first and second year students in scientific research. We are especially excited about the impact on education students. In this approach, elementary education students would experience science as related to several general education courses in which they enroUed. We hope to provide a model for transforming the role of science in general education curricula.