A team of six faculty members and administrators from Elon participated in a five-day, residential summer institute at Santa Clara University in California Aug. 5-10, sponsored by the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement and the National Science Foudation. The team from Elon joined 31 other invited teams, along with representatives of 56 colleges and universities as the newest members of SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities).
At the institute, the Elon team worked on Science Without Borders, a non-majors integrated science course. Led by Sandy Seidel, associate professor of biology, the group examined teaching methods that will stimulate students to take the knowledge they acquire in the classroom and apply it to real-world problems. Team members included Jimmie Agnew, Lisa Carloye, Nancy Harris, Doug Redington and Dan Wright.
“One of the challenges in teaching science is to make it relevant to students’ lives and make them want to act,” Seidel says. “Whether it informs your voting or the products you buy, we want students to use what they learn to make informed decisions.”
The SENCER Summer Institute is part of a national reform effort that connects the improvement of undergraduate science education with some of the world’s most complex challenges.
David Burns, director of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement and principal investigator for the SENCER initiative, expressed his appreciation for the leadership that Elon is bringing to this national effort to improve science education.
“So many of our most significant civic challenges require a knowledge of science and mathematics,” Burns said. “We are pleased to be partnered with Elon in focusing the intelligence and capacity of students, faculty and academic leaders on some of the hardest problems of our time.”