The long-term goal of this project is to improve the scientific literacy of the general population.
Most colleges and universities offer general education classes in science to non-science majors. These classes often have more than 90 students, many of them prospective elementary-school teachers. In large classes, lecturing is the traditional approach. But research shows that the best way to learn science is through guided inquiry, where students are guided to develop their own ideas by doing experiments and discussing their ideas and observations with classmates. In the past, projects have developed such curricula for small classes of around 30 students.
This project adapts a successful guided inquiry physical science curriculum for use in large classes. As well as teaching fundamental scientific ideas, the course covers the nature of science (what scientists do) and the nature of learning (how students learn). Classroom technology is important. Instead of having the students do experiments, the instructor uses a projector to show demonstrations and videos of experiments, and run online simulations. Students discuss ideas with the students sitting around them. Audience-response systems (clickers) record and collate the responses of individuals and groups. Homework is done over the internet. Sometimes students collaborate in online groups; sometimes simulators are used. This allows the instructor to gather data about the progress of the whole class, and tailor subsequent classes accordingly.
The curriculum is being tested across the country to gather information about whether it improves science learning more than traditional courses, and if it is as effective as the small-class version. Instructors attend workshops to learn how to teach the class, and they have extensive online resources to help plan and execute each lesson. This makes it easier for institutions to adopt the curriculum. An established educational publisher is publishing the student and instructor materials.
