Intellectual Merit: The University of North Dakota is enhancing its infrastructure for interdisciplinary STEM education to facilitate the entry of students into the sciences. We are creating a crime laboratory setting in which we use case based instruction, state-of-the-art technology, and professional guest speakers to teach forensic science. A new introductory course for non-majors provides a seamless lecture/laboratory approach to teaching the scientific method in the context of actual case studies. For majors, we have enhanced our upper division course to include new laboratory experiences along with the case approach. Our collaborations with the State's Attorney General's Office and the Midwestern Forensic Science Resources Consortium are enhancing our speakers series, our regional network, and our placement of students.
To target the increased enrollment of American Indian students into the introductory course and the major, Forensic Science Club members are being trained to work with TRIO program staff and our Office of American Indian Student Support Services. Underserved students are thus exposed to student role models while forensic science majors are gaining valuable and diverse cultural experiences.
The innovative linkage of laboratory experiences with case-based instruction in a professional setting is increasing the depth, richness, and realism of the learning experience, heightening the understanding of the process of scientific discovery, and encouraging hypothesis testing and critical thinking. The availability of state-of-the-art equipment to train undergraduates in the classroom, the laboratory, and the field, has significantly improved our ability to recruit students into the sciences, enhance student retention and success in STEM disciplines, and achieve program accreditation.
The project is enhancing student learning in the STEM disciplines, making undergraduates more competitive for internships, research opportunities, graduate school, and for careers as scientists and professionals. The resulting improved ability to identify victims and criminals and solve crimes will contribute significantly to the public good.
