Undergraduate scientific education may fail the novice in several ways. One may regard all introductory students as recruits to be readied for the more advanced work of a major; others view the education of the non-major as an obligation and offer material that does not attend to the needs of advanced instruction. We propose ultimately to develop an alternative-- a two-year introductory program in the analysis of human nature from the biological to the social. This curriculum would parallel Columbia University's reknowned program in Humanities that has been emulated by many colleges and universities. The course work in this new program would consist of transportable but interdependent modules that require careful reading and analysis of primary research papers. The readings would open opportunities for a variety of complementary projects. The current request is to fund a pilot program to develop and test a module in psychophysics and expand the quantitative adjuncts of a second module, molecular biology. The modules integrate lectures, peer discussion, demonstrations, field work, and experimentation to forge a real grasp of the methods and results of science. Students who complete the complete range of modules will be able to continue as science majors in biology, psychology or the social sciences. The portability of the modules will permit their use, individually or collectively, by other institutions, and we will plan such export to other colleges and universities.
