www.scifun.org

TEACHING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Professor Bassam Z. Shakhashiri

William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea

Department of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison

UNESCO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
October 5-6, 2004
Beirut, Lebanon

“Science is a hexagonal mountain with six faces . . . The three beautiful faces of science are science as subversion of authority, science as an art form, and science as an international club . . . Science is presented to our young people as a rigid and authoritarian discipline, tied to mercenary and utilitarian ends, and tainted by its association with weapons of mass murder. The way to attract young people into science is to show them all six faces and give them freedom to explore the beautiful and ugly as they please.”

Freeman Dyson

From Eros to Gaia, 1992

“A failure of science to produce benefits for the poor in recent decades is due to two factors working in combination: the pure scientists have become more detached from the mundane needs of humanity, and the applied scientists have become more attached to immediate profitability.”

Freeman Dyson

Imagined Worlds, 1997

What differentiates our society now from all previous societies?

Science

Science-rich Sector

Science-poor Sector

Scientific Literacy

Science Literacy

what business are you in Prof. Shakhashiri?

Clarity of Purpose

The purpose of education:
To enable individuals to fulfill their human potential.

The purpose of research:
To advance knowledge.

The purpose of technology:

To advance
the human condition.

•"There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science." --Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Issues and Concerns

globalization

sustainable development

pollution

genetically modified organisms

spread and control of disease

drugs and alcoholism

tobacco

Issues and Concerns

workforce

science education standards

teachers

appreciation of science

appreciation of technology

quality of life

Issues and Concerns

•quality and rigor of curriculum

•laboratory component in every science course

•quality of instruction

•faculty and staff professional development

•assessment and evaluation

•reward structure

•technical and trade school training

•preparation for graduate school

•intellectual property

•technology transfer

•targeted societal needs

•cooperative learning

•effective use of technology

•group problem-solving in lecture

•large course management strategies

•inquiry-based labs

•case studies

•scientific teaching

“To me, teaching is the ultimate performing art, and all performing arts are interactive. You always have to connect with the people . . . You don’t just present, you have to connect. And I find it difficult (online). . . . It’s one thing to give students the illusion that the teacher is really there. What’s much harder is to give the teacher the sense that the students are really there.”

Jaron Lanier, computer scientist who coined the term “virtual reality”

Characteristics of Scholarship

•Public

•Susceptible to critical review and evaluation

•Accessible for exchange and use by the community

Lee Shulman, President

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

A UNIVERSITY FOR THE 21^ST CENTURY

James Duderstadt, University of Michigan Press (2000)

THE UNIVERSITY IN TRANSFORMATION: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURES OF THE UNIVERSITY

Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley, editors, Bergin & Garvey, Westport, Connecticut (2000)

Issues and Concerns

•accreditation

•research opportunities for faculty and students

•sabbaticals and fellowships

•local, regional, and international cooperation and collaboration: networking

•sustaining well funded infrastructures to support scholarship in research and teaching

SUPPORT FOR SCIENCE

•national security

•economic security

•effective democracy

PERSONAL REASONS

•curiosity

•advancement

•job

•other

Science and Engineering Indicators 2004

National Science Board

http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/

OECD

Education at a Glance 2004

What is Science Literacy?

The American Association for the Advancement of Science defines a science-literate person as one who:

•is familiar with the natural world

•understands some of the key concepts and principles of science

•has a capacity for scientific ways of thinking

•is aware of some of the important ways in which mathematics, technology and science depend upon one another

•knows that science, mathematics & technology are human enterprises and what that implies about their strengths and weaknesses

•is able to use scientific knowledge and ways of thinking for personal and social purposes

Desirable Qualifications of Faculty Members

•Integrity of character

•Scholarship

•Both must be present if the faculty member is to be useful to the University.

•Other qualities will enhance that usefulness.

Mark H. Ingraham

Dean of the college of Letters & Sciences, 1949

“Faculty owe it to themselves to teach what they love. In so doing, they nourish their students. They owe it to themselves to show their students who they are. To do this, they need to know what they love, and who they are – not a simple task, but surely the anchor without which they’ll drift.”

“Great professors are the ones who weave webs of life-affirming connection for their students. Proficiency with technology, tightly framed learning outcomes, even multicultural awareness are secondary to the passion professors bring to their subject matter, the compassion, awe, and joy they embody and communicate. Great teaching comes from spirit, not from technique.”

Diane Chapman Walsh

President of Wellesley College

Problem-solving skills

Good judgment

Humane

Humanitarian

SUMMARY

•clarity of purpose

•change, reform, or transform?

•developing a will

•indicators for success

•consequences of failure

•quality of life

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