9455566 Hamilton North Seattle Community College proposes a course and curriculum development project that focuses on developing a year long, team-taught pre-engineering program titled "Math and Physics: Tools for Careers in Engineering." The program emphasizes students' working collaboratively to apply concepts taught in physics and mathematics to the kinds of problems encountered in the engineering profession. The proposal entails the planning and integration of an interactive physics and calculus laboratory into the curriculum. By scheduling a daily three-hour block, the three faculty members in physics, calculus and engineering will integrate their course work in a two-quarter sequence which will provide students with 10 credits in calculus, 5 in engineering physics and 9 in engineering problems, statics and circuits. The program will be structured to accommodate students who need remediation in particular skills with learning assistance. It also will be designed to create a classroom climate that promotes the pursuit of careers in science and engineering among women and people of color. To bring such significant change to the curriculum, the three faculty investigators will devote time to curriculum research during the first of the two-year project. They will consult with two faculty experienced in developing an interdisciplinary program in science at The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA; confer with Professor Denny Davis at Washington State University who developed a large- scale engineering curriculum project with DUE support, and visit model interdisciplinary programs in science and engineering being developed at other institutions. In developing collaborative, small group approaches to instruction, they will be guided by the expertise of the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education, a consortium of 42 colleges and universities that focus on learning communities as a means of reforming the undergraduate curriculum.
