This article describes and illustrates a physics course for first-year college students whose only knowledge of physics is that they do not like the subject. The physics content is driven entirely by what appears in the daily newspapers and generally covers most physics topics in a semester. This course was structured as a learning community that…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) represent an economical and practical way for institutions to equitably offer research experiences to large numbers of students. Although the benefits of CUREs are well documented, most CURE models are not guided by theory and are discipline specific, which limits their application. We used a…

On graduation, teacher candidates (TCs) are typically underprepared to teach science, particularly physical science, whereas physics graduates frequently lack training in teaching or effective communication. In response, we created two models for interdisciplinary peer learning where TCs were paired with either graduate or undergraduate physics…

The need for a more robust, well-trained STEM workforce is becoming increasingly acute in the United States, and there is a clear need to recruit and retain a larger and more diverse population of undergraduate STEM majors. Although numerous efforts to improve engagement and support in the traditional P-16 classroom have been implemented…

As our understanding of complex environmental issues increases, institutions of higher education are evolving to develop new learning models that emphasize synthesis across disciplines, concepts, data, and methodologies. To this end, we argue for the implementation of environmental science education at the intersection of systems theory and…

Both the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommend appropriately incorporating mathematics into other disciplines (NRC 1996; NRC 2003; NCTM 2000). With this in mind, an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based project was undertaken to incorporate mathematical analysis of data into a…

This paper presents results from a July 2005 workshop and course aimed at developing an interdisciplinary course on modeling aquatic ecosystems that will provide the next generation of practitioners with critical skills for which formal training is presently lacking. Five different course models were evaluated: (1) fundamentals/general principles…

Core concepts can be integrated throughout lower-division science and engineering courses by using a series of related, cross-referenced laboratory experiments. Starting with butane combustion in chemistry, the authors expanded the underlying core concepts of energy transfer into laboratories designed for biology, physics, and engineering. This…

Describes the use of Forrester systems language as a framework for unifying an undergraduate interdisciplinary environmental science course. (MA)

Describes an interdisciplinary course focusing on modeling scientific systems. Investigates elementary education majors' applications of three artificial intelligence concepts used in modeling scientific systems before and after the course. Reveals a great increase in understanding of concepts presented but inconsistent application. (Author/KHR)