Columbia College is a liberal arts college for women with an enrollment of 1,100 undergraduates, 30% of whom are African-American. Ten years ago, the curriculum was very traditional. Growing enrollments in the sciences and a new vision for the role of a women's college in the modern world led to a successful campaign to build a new science and mathematics facility. With a new physical space and an institutional commitment to mathematics and science, these departments are poised to expand their innovative teaching and curricular reform efforts. The entire campus is committed to integrating the historical strengths in liberal arts with the tradition of teaching innovation in science and mathematics. With this grant, the faculty at Columbia College have initiated a bold new plan of faculty development and curriculum reform to infuse scientific inquiry into the curriculum, thereby creating linkages between and among disciplines and realigning approaches to all disciplines using modern science and its modes of inquiry.
The program for institution-wide reform of undergraduate education consists of three phases: (1 ) a summer institute, designed for faculty in all disciplines, that will enable them to experience scientific modes of inquiry and scientific research; (2) the collaborative creation of two general education courses. (3) an outreach summer institute for teachers at local public schools and interested faculty in non-scientific disciplines.
One of the two general education courses will focus on distinct modes of inquiry and the similarities and differences with which the sciences, the social sciences, the fine arts and the humanities approach problem-solving. This course will instill in first-semester college students the process of making linkages between branches of thought. The other course will be an opportunity for non-science majors actually to do science. The course will serve as an introduction to the study of science and will culminate with a scientific research project designed to connect with each student's major field of study. Both discovery collaboratives will emphasize a problem-centered approach to learning, and we will utilize our working knowledge of collaborative learning and gender based learning to develop innovative learning components.
The outreach summer institute will allow us to build on strong relationships with local school districts and public school teachers. It will also provide important professional development opportunities for elementary and middle school teachers, as well as high school teachers and college faculty from our own campus and from other colleges in the state. The college will commit to continuing to offer the institute on an annual basis after the funding period ends.
