A growing body of literature amply documents the low levels of scientific and environmental literacy among the American public. The main goal of this project is to provide a framework in which all Georgia Southern undergraduates can achieve basic environmental literacy while acquiring an understanding of science. This goal will be pursued through the development of environmental courses in four science disciplines: biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. These courses constitute a particular area of GSU's new core curriculum that will be required of all students, including science majors, non-science majors, and future K-12 teachers. The new courses will utilize environmental issues to introduce and discuss relevant scientific concepts, providing in-context instruction on a "need-to-know" basis. The project has three distinctive features: 1. An approach that will expand students' awareness of local, regional, and global environmental problems, 2. A focus on hands-on laboratory activities based on these issues, and 3. Involvement of advanced science and science education majors in the laboratories as faculty-mentored interns in the "Undergraduate Teaching Internship Program" (UTIP). Expected project outcomes are: graduates who possess the knowledge to engage in environmentally-aware behavior and informed citizenship, improved scientific and environmental knowledge of future K-12 teachers, appreciation by students of the connections between science and real-world problems, and teacher training for UTIP participants, including student interns and science faculty. The project will yield laboratory exercises that will be made available for adaptation by other institutions. Dissemination will be accomplished thorough presentations at national meetings, faculty development workshops, publication of laboratory materials and professional articles, and a project web site. This model is a general one that can be reasonably adapted by other institutions and, therefore, has excellen t potential for impact outside the university.
