Preparing nonscience majors for the science in all of life

“If this is the last science course students ever take, what do they need to learn?”

This was the question a group of science faculty members struggled with last year as they developed a new science course for nonscience majors.

“We agreed that memorizing facts is not an appropriate goal,” said Mary Sanchez Lanier, associate dean of the College of Sciences and a member of the committee. “Instead, we want students to understand how science is done: developing and testing hypotheses and drawing conclusions based on experiments.

“Ten or twenty years from now, we want them to be able to read about and become involved in issues with scientific components with enough understanding to critically evaluate and take a knowledgeable position on these issues,” said Sanchez Lanier. “An example is whether it is safe to introduce bioengineered plants into the world food supply.

“We want their understanding of science to enrich their life.”

The new course, “The Sciences for Honors Students” (Sci 198 and 199), is being offered for the first time this fall. Initially, it is limited to 48 students and is open only to students in the Honors College.

“Beginning this fall, it is the course nonscience honors students must take to meet the science requirement,” said Libby Walker, associate dean of the Honors College.

The committee was concerned that the course be interdisciplinary and “not leave the impression that biology is separate from physics is separate from geology and math,” said Sanchez Lanier. “To truly understand the world, we need a basic understanding of all these areas.

“Inspiration for the structure for the course came in part from a book by WSU geneticist Paul Lurquin, ‘The Origins of Life and the Universe.’

“With additional funding and further development, we want to offer this approach to all nonscience undergraduates,” said Sanchez Lanier.

Once a week, the class will meet in small groups for discussion sections and lab experiments. This structure was chosen to support the goal of applying lecture content to current situations. Discussions are expected to include sociological, psychological and even philosophical aspects of scientific applications.

Many College of Sciences faculty — including Peter Larson, chair of geology; Michael Skinner, director of the Center for Reproductive Biology; Terry Hassold and Patricia Hunt, two new internationally renowned geneticists in the School of Molecular Biosciences; as well as Sanchez Lanier, an authority of infectious diseases — have asked to contribute to lectures or discussion groups when the topic is in their field of expertise.

The course is being team taught by Guy Worthey, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and instructor Lisa Carloye, an entomologist who has spent the last 15 years teaching a wide range of science courses at Elon University and the University of Illinois. Chris Hostetler, a research associate and post doctoral student in the School of Molecular Biosciences, is teaching the labs.

“The new course,” said Dean Michael Griswold, “is an example of the College of Sciences responding to the first goal in the WSU strategic plan: ‘To offer the best undergraduate experience in a research university; to continually improve program offerings and delivery; and to be collaborative and interdisciplinary.’ ”

Funding for development of the course has been provided by the College of Sciences and the Honors College.