The Other Culture: Science and Mathematics Education in Honors. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series

This monograph addresses the current needs for science education at all levels of higher education. It proceeds from assumptions that the national debate for scientific understanding matters. It explores science in society and strategies for curricular integration in honors. The hope is that this monograph will further the discussion of science and science teaching within honors experiences and will further the engagement of students with the tenets of science applicable to the society and future they face. If it reveals more untapped opportunities and legitimate questions than staid answers and predictable examples, it will have succeeded. The following contents are included: (1) Preface (Dail W. Mullins, Jr.); and (2) Introduction (Ellen B. Buckner and Keith Garbutt). Section I: What is Science in Honors?: (3) One Size Does Not Fit All: Science and Mathematics in Honors Programs and Colleges (Keith Garbutt); (4) Encouraging Scientific Thinking and Student Development (Ellen B. Buckner); and (5) Information Literacy as a Co-requisite to Critical Thinking: A Librarian and Educator Partnership (Paul Mussleman and Ellen B. Buckner). Section II: Science and Society: (6) SENCER: Honors Science for All Honors Students (Mariah Birgen); (7) Philosophy in the Service of Science: How Non-Science Honors Courses Can Use the Evolution-ID Controversy to Improve Scientific Literacy (Thi Lam); (8) Recovering Controversy: Teaching Controversy in the Honors Science Classroom (Richard England); and (9) Science, Power, and Diversity: Bringing Science to Honors in an Interdisciplinary Format (Bonnie K. Baxter and Bridget M. Newell) Section III: Science and Mathematics in Honors for the Non-Science Student: (10) Honors Science for the Non-Science-Bound Student: Where Have We Gone Wrong? (Bradley R. Newcomer); (11) Engaging the Honors Student in Lower-Division Mathematics (Minerva Cordero, Theresa Jorgensen, and Barbara A. Shipman); (12) Statistics in Honors: Teaching Students to Separate Truth from "Damned Lies" (Lisa W. Kay); and (13) Is Honors General Chemistry Simply More Quantum Mechanics? (Joe L. March). Section IV: Science in Honors for the Science Student: (14) Communicating Science: An Approach to Teaching Technical Communication in a Science and Technology Honors Program (Cynthia Ryan, Michele Gould, and Diane C. Tucker); (15) Designing Independent Honors Projects in Mathematics (Minerva Cordero, Theresa Jorgensen, and Barbara A. Shipman); and (16) Honors Senior Theses Are ABET Friendly: Developing a Process to Meet Accreditation Requirements (Michael Doran). Section V: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Honors Science Curricula: (17) Interdisciplinary Science Curricula in Honors (Dail W. Mullins, Jr.); (18) The Science of Humor: An Interdisciplinary Honors Course (Michael K. Cundall, Jr.); and (19) An Interdisciplinary Understanding of a Disease: Project for an Honors-Embedded Biochemistry Course (Kevin M. Williams). Section VI: Thinking like a Scientist: A Toolkit: (20) Replacing Appearance with Reality: What Should Distinguish Science in an Honors Program? (Larry J. Crockett); (21) Confronting Pseudoscience: An Honors Course in Critical Thinking (Keith Garbutt); and (22) Science Education: The Perils of Scientific Illiteracy, the Promise of Science Education (Glenn M. Sanford). An Acknowledgements section (Ellen B. Buckner and Keith Garbutt) and an About the Authors section are included. (Individual papers contain references.)