This proposal responds to the national need for interdisciplinary science courses for nonscience students in universities, colleges, community colleges, and adult education centers. The course will also be suitable for meeting the science requirements of elementary/early childhood education majors.It is proposed to create a new undergraduate interdisciplinary course in which students explore the key role of randomness in biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science. By placing the student in the position of an independent investigator, it is hoped to convey a feeling for "what science really is" to individuals who may never enter scientific careers themselves. A version of these curriculum materials experiments, simulations, and data analysis software has already been developed as individual modules for high school science classes. These materials have been used successfully in many schools, including suburban and urban high schools in the Boston area and the classes of 35 teachers trained in a two-week summer workshop. These materials have also been tested as part of a course for liberal arts undergraduates and to augment existing physics, chemistry, and biology courses. These modules must now be recast into a coherent one-semester course that is sufficiently challenging to liberal arts undergraduates. The significant feature of the high school version, i.e., a balanced combination of hands- on activities, experiments, and use of computers for modelling and data analysis, will be retained. However, new topics will be incorporated, and those high school modules that are retained will be upscaled in content, will include more challenging exercises, and will have a wider scope of application. More algebra will be incorporated into all modules to allow deeper presentations of physics, chemistry, and biology. Preservice students will participate in the development of course materials. Training workshops will assist interested faculty from other institu tions to incorporate these materials into new or existing courses. In addition to conventional dissemination channels, selected portions of the teaching materials will be made available on the internet, along with student research reports, software, and teacher advice. Students and their teachers can share ideas and participate in a mutually supportive nationwide community.
