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An electronic newsletter for the science education community

November/December 2006

Project 2061 Contributes to Handbook of College Science Teaching

Are college students getting what they need from their science courses? Probably not, according to Jo Ellen Roseman and Mary Koppal of Project 2061, writing in the new Handbook of College Science Teaching from NSTA Press. Edited by Joel J. Mintzes and William H. Leonard, the Handbook brings together 38 chapters aimed at helping higher-education science faculty update their practices and make their courses more effective learning experiences for students.

Mintzes and Leonard point out that most higher education faculty “have had extensive preparation in their subject discipline,” but have had “little or no theoretical preparation in teaching their subject, other than their own teaching experiences” (2006, xi). Their new guide helps to bridge that gap.

In their chapter “Ensuring That College Graduates Are Science Literate: Implications of K–12 Benchmarks and Standards,” Roseman and Koppal report on the need for reform of undergraduate science courses and look at what can be learned from the reform efforts of the past twenty years at the K–12 level. The chapter makes recommendations in three areas that seem especially important to improving undergraduate science programs:

• identifying the goals for learning,
• designing a curriculum or sequence of learning activities that will enable students to achieve the goals; and
• fostering a climate that will support continued monitoring, evaluation, and improvement over the long term.

Roseman and Koppal highlight relevant K–12 tools and strategies used by Project 2061 and other groups to support a goals-based and learner-based approach to science teaching and learning.

Read the Roseman & Koppal chapter [PDF].

The Handbook of College Science Teaching can be purchased from NSTA Press. See ordering information.

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For more information, please contact:

Project 2061 Director: Dr. Jo Ellen Roseman, (202) 326-6752

Project 2061 Communications Director: Mary Koppal, (202) 326-6643

References

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