Traditional education is designed so that each discipline has curricula which is independent of other disciplines. This tendency to compartmentalize knowledge effectively negates the inherent interconnections of "real-world" problems. In today's information age, we need to teach our students to exploit the vast amount of information available by providing a global overview that stresses the importance of the interconnected parts. One of the objectives of this project is to reverse the tendency to separate academic disciplines by demanding that students engage in studying problems of a multidisciplinary nature using technology as a tool. Broward Community College (BCC) will accomplish this objective by implementing a curricular reform which integrates the disciplines of Mathematics, Science, Engineering, and Technology (MSET) into a comprehensive curriculum. Students in the MSET-Web will interact in the completion of multi- course projects that share common goals. Interaction will be facilitated by the creation of an Exploration Center where students will work cooperatively with other students, faculty, and variouq businesses and government agencies. Through these projects students will engage in the collection, analysis, image processing, and modeling of field data. The Center will also serve as a virtual meeting of the minds through the establishment of an Intemet Homepage for the compilation and dissemination of information generated by the projects in the MSET-Web. This initiative is an affirmation that an understanding of the interconnections of knowledge is more important than the independent pieces. This new approach to learning through integration will significantly impact future learning at the college level. Inclusion of teacher re-certification courses in this initiative will also help disseminate this innovative approach to learning to precollege students. Graduates at all levels will be capable of extrapolating concepts from one area of knowledge to another, and therefore b e better prepared to succeed in the real world.
