The University of Massachusetts at Amherst will create within the general education context a series of courses that will provide education majors with a comprehensive constructivist perspective concerning science and mathematics instruction. Because the courses that will be designed are intended for a broader audience than the education major, not only will students of other majors reap the benefits of this epitemological approach, but the education majors will have the experience of being taught as they should teach. The individual components of the project consist of the modification and/or development of (1) a faculty seminar on contructivism, (2) a basic mathematics course, (3) an undergraduate course on the learning of mathematics and science, (4) an interdisciplinary science laboratory course, and (5) an interdisciplinary science course. To accomplish these tasks an interdisciplinary team of eight scientists and mathematicians, two educators and two teachers will study recent developments in the theory of science learning and apply them to the construction of the new courses.
