Making Believers & Re-establishing Interest: Engaging Non-Science Majors in the Sciences

1. Making Believers & Re-establishing Interest: Engaging Non-Science Majors in the Sciences Laura Lowe Furge Ph.D. Department of Chemistry Kalamazoo College Lfurge@kzoo.edu

2. Liberal Arts Mission • “to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world”

3. Toxicology & Carcinogenesis The Physical Earth Chemistry of Antibiotics Chemistry & Society Astronomy Energy & the Environment Environmental Science Biology: Stuff you Need to Know Biology of Disease The Darwinian Revolution Non-Majors Course Offered

4. Science History Survey What are your feelings about science? What are some of your most memorable science experiences (good or bad)? What did you like best about previous courses in the natural sciences that you have taken? What did you like least? This course will hopefully have a lot of discussion and other class interaction. What works best for you in this type of setting? (examples: random calling on students, students raising hands to speak, small group break-outs for discussions, group presentations, etc…). What would you most like to gain from taking this course?

5. Science History Survey Why do a Science History Survey?

6. Science History Survey Why do a Science History Survey? • creates a “safe” space • address issues of past “failure” and see that many of the students in the class have common anxieties

7. Science History Survey Why do a Science History Survey? • creates a “safe” space • address issues of past “failure” and see that many of the students in the class have common anxieties Could this have applications to “majors” courses as well? Cohen, Garcia, Apfel, Master, Science313, 1307 (2006). - social psychological intervention - changing people’s interpretations of the social world and their place in it and thus changing the objective environment

8. Science History Survey, Results What are your feelings about science? useful, scary, interesting has big confusing words like poetry, fascinating, misunderstood, important, difficult, challenging, interesting at surface level, useful to help cure disease, I’m hesitant in science courses, disagree with ideas of science being truth & absolute, confusing, never very interested, terrifies me, intimidating, fun to theorize about, dislike it, not my favorite subject What are some of your most memorable science experiences (good or bad)? being burned in a chemistry demo, learning to make beer, dissecting animals, labs/experiments, science fairs, counting species in mud, tie-dying T-shirts, bad 7th grade science teacher, learning anatomy & metabolism, teacher burning ceiling, messing up a long science expt and having to do it all over again, physics of Cedar Point

9. Science History Survey, Results con’t What did you like best about previous courses in the natural sciences that you have taken? hands-on experience/labs, good teachers, research topics in science, discussions about ideas, logic, relevance to my life, conservation aspects, field trips, how systems work together, practical applications, learning about environment, excited teacher, service learning What did you like least? being completely lost due to fast pace, lack of enthusiasm from instructor, Powerpoint lectures, lack of hands-on experience, math related things, lab reports, memorizing things, having no visuals for things on small scale, unavailable professors, technical details, reading textbooks, lectures, lack of connections to other ideas, lack of help, learning metrics, learning concepts that can’t be easily observed, terminology, details, taking tests, learning about things I can’t see, periodic table

10. What do students want? • Lab experiences - to “do” something • To learn something that relates to other aspects of their education

11. What are Institutional Goals? • Increase science literacy • Introduce scientific method via hands-on experience • Offer meaningful experience related to broader education • Strengthen connections between science & society

12. What do our courses offer? • Lab or field experience • Research papers • Presentations • Service Learning • Writing about science • Connecting to science in the lay press

13. Students Practicing Scientific Method Bishops Bog: Field Experience & Service Learning Ames Test: Hypothesis Driven Experience

14. Alternatives to Lecture • The “survey sheet”

15. Alternatives to Lecture • “Minute Pages” or “Half-Sheets” Example questions: General: What was the most important thing you took from class today? Problem based: Would you predict p53 mutation hotspots to vary with cancer type? Reading based: Why are the terms “organic” and “synthetic” considered “slippery” by the author of Living Downstream? Scientific Method: How would you design an experiment to test the mutagenic properties of your test compound? Reference: Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds by Richard Light

16. Alternatives to Lecture • Small group discussions • Get the words in their mouths • Example guiding questions: • Why does DNA damage cause cancer? • What is the role of P450 enzymes in toxciology & carcinogenesis? • If you performed the Ames test using strain TA1535, a known mutagen such as azide, and rich media containing histidine,what would you expect to see? Explain. • Discuss the following quote: “By listing hundreds of chemical agents, Proposition 65 decreases the effectiveness of the message of known health risks and diverts attention from non-chemical lifestyle risk factors (e.g. UV radation from sunlight, smoking, dietary factors) that are associated with human cancer.”

17. Alternatives to Lecture • Peer-paper review • Approval of topic (1-page thesis paragraph) (topics sorted by professor). • Complete draft with 10-15 primary references • Professor distributes drafts to group members. • Group members read, critique, prepare written statements with 3 specific strengths & weaknesses. • In-class discussions… Adapted approach of Craig Nelson, Indiana University

18. Alternatives to Lecture • Peer-paper review - In class discussions • Author describes motivation for topic and what they hoped reader would gain from reading it (pre-prepared statement). • Each group member tells what they got from reading it (what questions did it generate, what questions did it answer, etc…). • Each group member lists & discusses the strengths they noted. • Each group member lists & discusses in turn the weaknesses they noted with suggestions for improvement. • Authors revise papers & turn in final copy to professor; all prepared statements turned in to professor at time of discussions & graded.

19. Cross-disciplinary Research Papers Major: Art & Art History Example Paper Topics: • Dying to Work: Occupational Health-Risks of Mexican-American Migrant • Hormesis and the Politics of Unintended Consequences • The Effects of Socioeconomic Division on Cancer in America • Breast Cancer Factors That Lead to a Disparity in Mortality Rate between White and Non-white Women • Cancer and Sexual Health: The HPV Vaccine Taboo • Public Health vs. Economics: The Debate Over Smoking Bans • Hormone therapy: How Pharmaceutical Giants Pathologized Menopause at the Expense of Women’s Health • Agent Orange Exposure in Vietnam Veterans: War and Cancer • Government Regulation of Smoking • American Cancer Hospitals: Economics of Desperation • Babies, pick your poison, DTT or Malaria • The Inefficiencies and Real Costs of California’s Risk Management Legislation Political Science Economics English Theatre Arts Undeclared Music Chemistry Theatre Arts English Political Science Economics

20. Alternatives to Lecture • Service Learning Chemistry of Antibiotics - invites 6th grade classes of local elementary to come to K for a morning of exploring microbes - students prepare interactive posters on topics from course - students prepare demos and hands-on activities to do on topics from course

21. Alternatives to Lecture • In Class Presentations Oral presentations with Powerpoint slides of research papers or other presentation topics. Can be one student or student groups.

22. Alternatives to Lecture • “Science Fair” Environmental Studies and Chemistry & Society Posters available in common area during a common time. Requires topic research. Requires peer-review. Public display to engage community - visibility of sciences.

23. Science in the News • Goal: increase awareness of how often science is in the news • How lay articles strive to make topic accessible • Reinforce vocabulary learned in class • Example: www.kzoo.edu/biology/courses/bio102/news.html

24. Other Visible Outcome • Science column in “The Index”

25. Other outcomes • Staying connected - maintaining conversation

26. How does this Enrich Science Experiences for Science Majors? • Conversation!! • Understanding of demands of lab and lecture courses. • Mentoring.

27. Acknowledgments • Non-Science majors of Kalamazoo College • Faculty teaching other non-majors courses for sharing their experiences • John Fink for helpful discussion