The authors present the individual and collective results of a university-wide initiative to institutionalize a hybrid pedagogical approach--Creative Inquiry--across multiple academic disciplines. The program is intended to systematically combine inquiry-guided learning and creative thinking in order to further enhance the depth and breadth of…

In fall 2012, an interdisciplinary team of science, English, and library faculty embedded reading, writing, and information literacy strategies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricula as a first step in improving student learning and retention in science courses and aligning them with the Next Generation Science and…

The 6th Annual Conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) and the 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference was held at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, on June 27-29, 2012. The NAIRTL is a collaborative initiative between University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, National…

The third annual conference of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) was held at Trinity College Dublin on 11-12 November 2009, and was attended by over 300 delegates. The theme--"Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy"--was timely and generated some fascinating papers, workshops and…

To adequately prepare future faculty for their multiple roles as researchers, teachers, and colleagues, innovative teaching opportunities must be made available to doctoral students that allow them to maintain a high level of research productivity while acquiring independent teaching experience and training. A new program is developed that offers…

Educators expect students to question, explain, hypothesize, and devise tests to determine validity concerning science and its applications. The traditional approach of presenting individual courses concentrating on single disciplines and ignoring linkages to other disciplines is abysmal. If we expect students to understand how science is related…

Explores how science could be better taught at the undergraduate level, particularly the incorporation of active learning and an interdisciplinary approach, and the role of learning communities in improving science instruction. (EV)

A proposed course featuring the teaching of chemistry to nonscience majors in the context of detective fiction is described. (MSE)

Two linked courses examining conservation science and art history of 17th-century Dutch painting are described. The two courses have been taught on campus and, most recently, as study-abroad courses in collaboration with the Center for European Studies, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands. The highly interdisciplinary courses are intense, yet…

In a program designed to help physics faculty improve their instructional techniques and curricula, their colleagues from other disciplines are taking classes alongside regular students to provide insights into reasons for learning problems. (MSE)

This article argues that the sciences and the humanities are experiencing a growing mutual isolation and polarization in the college curriculum, and that an integration of the two is needed. Arts and humanities course developers are urged to incorporate elements of science instruction, including the scientific method, history and philosophy of…

Understanding the relevance of basic science knowledge in the determination of patient assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is critical to good medical practice. One method often used to direct students in the fundamental process of integrating basic science and clinical information is problem-based learning (PBL). The faculty facilitated small…

Hampshire College (Massachusetts) offers an introductory, interdisciplinary course on the effects of drugs on the body to get students to think creatively and critically about science. It is hoped that, by becoming scientists for a term, they will experience both the power of science and its fallibility. (The course syllabus is included.) (MSE)

A project to develop an interdisciplinary course (ARSC 10/11) for teaching science to college students not majoring in science is described. Concept modules were developed for a two-semester format consisting of three hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory per week. Important science themes were identified to promote an understanding of…

UCLA's Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Program (HHURP), a collaboration between the College of Letters and Science and the School of Medicine, trains a group of highly motivated undergraduates through mentored research enhanced by a rigorous seminar course. The course is centered on the presentation and critical analysis of scientific journal…