EDUCATION THROUGH RESEARCH: FOSTERING
NEW CONNECTIONS
2001 Report to the NSF on Colby College’s
Award for the Integration of Research
into Education
During the third year of Colby’s National Science Foundation
(NSF) grant, the Award for Integration of Research and Education (AIRE), the
College has brought additional attention to integrating research into education. The hiring of a NSF-AIRE Fellow in Geology
has allowed significant expansion of this very successful pedagogical model.
Our efforts to integrate research and education continue across the
curriculum at all levels. Dissemination efforts have continued and
expanded throughout this year. In addition, we continue to conduct a broad
array of assessment activities as planned.
These activities are providing numerous ideas for enhancing our approach
to integrating research and education.
II. EXPANSION OF EFFORT TO INTEGRATE RESEARCH INTO EDUCATION
II.A. NSF-AIRE
Fellows.
Throughout the 2000-2001 year, NSF-AIRE
Postdoctoral Fellows Philip Nyhus, Larkspur Morton, and Andrew Kortyna continued
to make significant contributions to the goals of this grant and to the College.
In June 2001, Dr. Nyhus, NSF-AIRE Fellow in Environmental Science (1999-2001)
conducted a well-received workshop on “Geographic Information Systems
in the Classroom.” While at Colby, Dr. Nyhus developed the
capability for and trained the faculty and staff in the use of geographical
information systems (GIS). In
addition, he was active with other NSF-AIRE Fellows in organizing the second
annual cross-campus undergraduate research symposium. He also continued his research on the endangered Sumatran Tiger
and received two research grants from the Tiger Foundation and one from NSF.
In addition to teaching introductory and advanced courses in his discipline,
he involved students in his research, instructing them in the use of GIS as
a valuable research tool. In September 2001, Dr. Nyhus accepted
a tenure-track position at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania.
During 2000-2001, Dr. Larkspur Morton, NSF-AIRE Fellow in Biology (1999-2001)
had another successful year. She
helped teach Biodiversity
for the second consecutive year, with 36 students enrolled. She participated by incorporating aspects
of research training and inquiry-based learning into the Biodiversity, BI131, curriculum. Dr. Morton also coordinated a well-received workshop entitled,
“Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Engaging Students in the Process of Discovery
in Lectures, Laboratory, and the Library.” The sessions were each assigned
a point person to lead the discussion. Participants were delighted to engage in such a discussion-oriented
workshop, to hear so many new ideas, and to have the opportunity to ask questions.
Evaluations were completed at the end of the workshop to provide guidance
for future workshops. Dr. Morton also engaged several students in her ongoing
research on the ecology of Gray Jays in the North Woods of Maine.
She received a research grant from the Nuttall Ornithological Society
for this work. Beginning in the fall 2001, she became
a Research Scientist at Colby while she continues her work on Gray Jays in
Maine’s North Woods.
NSF-AIRE Fellow Andrew Kortyna had a successful two-year experience
at Colby and is currently in a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor
of Physics at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He gained considerable
skill in using diode laser systems at Colby, which are well suited for conducting
research at small undergraduate institutions. Inclusion of undergraduates
into his research activities was an important part of his work. Colby provided
the opportunity for him to work with several students in a research setting
with Associate Professor of Physics Duncan A. Tate providing support. He also team-taught Experimental Atomic
Physics, PH334, with
Prof. Tate. This course emphasized important experimental and theoretical
aspects of atomic and molecular physics. In spring 2000, this course was taught
for the second time (Dr. Kortyna’s first time). Dr. Kortyna had considerable
latitude to work with and modify the course materials. This course included
many concrete examples of how research-grade equipment and techniques can
be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. He also taught Classical Mechanics, PH311, and The Elements, PH113, a distribution course, which he
helped revise.
In the fall of this year, Matthew C. Schwartz began a one-year appointment
at Colby as the NSF-AIRE Fellow in Geology. His research interests include
use of stable isotopes and radioisotopes to assess geochemical and biogeochemical
processes in surface water systems, and groundwater interactions with coastal
ocean (including submarine discharge, hydrogeochemistry, and coastal geology/hydrogeology).
His doctoral work was entitled, “ Submarine Groundwater Discharge in
the Delaware Estuary: An Assessment from Excess Radon-222.”
He is helping to reorganize Environmental Geology, GE131,
and to develop laboratory courses for the January Program. He is also assisting with organizing the
cross-campus undergraduate research symposium and a workshop on assessment
techniques. Although not originally
requested, the Geology Fellow position was funded through savings in several
budget categories while still completing all originally proposed work.
We are pleased to be able to extend this successful teaching model
to all laboratory science departments.
II.B. Distributional Course Developments.
Our science distribution courses have been
improved and are incorporating aspects of research and inquiry-based learning.
Science distribution courses were among the largest classes on campus.
Virtually all of these courses are now capped at fewer than 50 students,
dramatically increasing effectiveness of pedagogy.
Teaching a distribution course in chemistry with a laboratory during
the January Program also has proven very successful.
Geology is planning to add three new January Program courses with laboratory
components that will rotate among years.
II.B1. Biodiversity.
Biodiversity (BI131)
is a laboratory course designed for non-science majors interested in fulfilling
their natural science laboratory requirement in biology. The lecture material
addresses the traditional levels of biodiversity, including genes, species,
and ecosystems. The students
first learn how so many species have evolved by exploring the structure and
function of DNA, organization of genes and chromosomes, and the processes
of exchange of genetic material from parents to offspring. Biotechnology, including recombinant DNA and its uses in industry,
is also discussed. Each Friday throughout the semester is designated a “diversity
day” and the species diversity of the various domains are presented.
Major groups of prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals are
discussed in an evolutionary context using a phylogenetic approach. Students investigate ecosystem diversity in class and
through an assignment to design an informational advertisement for an ecotour
to a particular biome. The final
topics of the course focus on human population growth, its effect on biodiversity,
and conservation efforts.
Laboratory exercises in Biodiversity are
discovery- and inquiry-based. A
biological scavenger hunt in the first week introduces students to biological
terminology and concepts. Discovery
laboratories allow students to learn about plant reproductive structures and
their functions, invasive species and their effects on the environment, the
use of dichotomous keys to identify marine invertebrates and mammal skulls,
and the practical side of running a fishing company. These laboratories present materials and
exercises for the students to complete in a single laboratory session. Inquiry-based
laboratories allow students to design and conduct experiments in a variety
of areas, including inoculating and culturing microorganisms from various
environments, analyzing the effects of population density on the development
of a fast-growing fern, analyzing the effects of stresses (e.g., shaking)
on growth and development in a fast-growing plant, and exploring behavioral
responses of isopods to various types of environments. Students develop hypotheses and experimental
designs to test the hypotheses before conducting experiments. After data collection and analysis, students
prepare brief presentations that are given to the class during the laboratory
period. Students are very enthusiastic, especially about the more inquiry-based
laboratories, and can apply the concepts that they discuss in the lecture
to the experiments and exercises completed in the laboratory.
II.B.2. Chemistry of Life.
Project-based work has been introduced into the Chemistry of Life
CH118 course (http://www.colby.edu/chemistry/lmm/labmaster.htm).
CH118, offered during Colby's January Program, is continually evolving, particularly
the laboratory. Major changes last year included the following:
Students learned both good notebook skills as well as summary report
writing. While this increased their workload, it
grounded the students better and gave them more realistic expectations regarding
their course performance. The lecture introduces general chemistry concepts
and then rapidly moves to real-life applications. Faculty used a number of
mock “cases” as in-class exercises and brought in “scientific
experts” for students to question in the roles of prosecution or defense
(segregated by laboratory section), while the remaining section acted as the
jury to decide the outcome of the case based on the questions asked and the
expert testimony provided.
The advantage of offering this course during January is the lack of
distraction for the students. Their studies are focused on a single course,
so they are more engaged in the course than they would be if it were one course
of four. The course is fully enrolled for January 2002, and seven people are
on a waiting list despite the addition of several slots in an attempt to accommodate
all those who had selected it as their first choice. The disadvantage is the
pressure the course places on those involved, particularly in the laboratory
preparation and grading. That the second semester begins about three days
after the January Program ends is challenging because little time remains
before second semester for faculty and students to “un-focus”
and gear up for second semester.
II.C. Gateway Courses.
Historically, gateway science courses were among the largest at Colby. Now, with the exception of Geology, these
gateway courses will be capped at fewer than 50 students. Geology will cap their gateway course
beginning in fall 2002. These
changes were specifically designed to increase opportunities for inquiry-based
learning and pedagogical effectiveness.
II.C.1 Biology Core Curriculum.
Beginning in the 2001-2002 academic year, the Department of Biology
replaced their old introductory sequence (Introduction to Organismal Biology, BI161, and Introduction to Cell Biology
and Genetics, BI162)
with a more flexible curriculum. In
the past, BI161 and BI162 each had enrollments of 150-175 students. The Department
of Biology’s new curriculum, with reduced class sizes, is a major pedagogical
improvement. In their first four semesters, students must now take three core
courses. One course must be Cell
Biology and Genetics, BI179. Another course must be a plant course: Woody Plants,
BI171, Biology of
Vascular Plants, BI172, or Reproductive Ecology of Flowering
Plants, BI173. The third course is drawn from the following:
Marine Invertebrate Zoology, BI174, Comparative Animal Physiology, BI175, Mammalian Physiology, BI176, or Introduction to Ecology, BI177). Students are now enrolled in more
focused courses in the gateway curriculum. After this first transitional year
(2001-2002), all of these classes are to be capped at an enrollment of 48
students. Three of these courses are discussed below.
Introduction
to Ecology(BI177).
One of the greatest benefits of the new core curriculum is the reduction of
class sizes. In this fall's Introduction to Ecology, BI177, class, 32 of the 64 students are first-year
students. Merrill Associate Professor and Chair of Biology W. Herbert Wilson,
Jr. believes the students are receiving a better introduction to Colby biology
than if they had taken Introduction to Biology, BI161. He knows every student personally.
Students ask questions freely and respond to questions he poses to the class.
Teaching Introduction to Ecology, BI177 with 64 students is greatly different
from teaching Introduction to Organismal Biology, BI161 with 150 or more students.
Woody Plants
(BI171). This
course, taught by Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Biology Judy Stone,
also addresses the need for more intensive, project-based learning at the
introductory level. The lecture
portion is fairly traditional in format, although it is perhaps unusual in
integrating information from a wide variety of disciplines. The laboratory portion of the course is
divided into two components. In
the outdoor component, students become acquainted with the diversity of forested
ecosystems in Central Maine. Rather
than waiting for the professor to tell them how and why these forests are
distinctive, the students are empowered to make these discoveries themselves.
Before going out to each site, students are responsible for studying
descriptions and specimens of species they are likely to encounter, as well
as soil maps and geological information relevant for each site.
Once at the site, teams of students record data on abundance and size
of tree species as well as characteristics of the soil and other features
of the site. In the indoor laboratory
component, each week one team of students compiles and analyzes the data for
the laboratory section, presenting the summarized information the following
week. Students write a laboratory report each week in the form of a short
scientific paper. By the end
of the field season, the students have created quantitative descriptions of
seven forest sites. A portion
of their final examination will require them to compare and contrast these
sites, based on the class data.
Comparative
Animal Physiology (BI 175).
This course was taught in fall 2001 with the reduced enrollment limit (52
students vs. 150 in B161). Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Biology
Andrea R. Tilden reports she has been able to implement far more effective
teaching strategies in the smaller lecture and in the laboratory than in BI161.
The topical content
of the course is more focused than that of the general introductory organismal
biology course (BI161) previously offered. The class explored animal physiology topics to nearly the same
depth as when this course was offered at the 300 level. The increased depth of coverage has contributed
to an increase in student engagement in the topic, and the smaller class size
has allowed students to interact more with Prof. Tilden and with the material
in the classroom. Another advantage
of the small class size is that Prof. Tilden can know each student individually,
and the students are better able to get to know each other. This factor has enhanced the sense of
community within the class and, as a result, students are more likely to seek
help from Prof. Tilden or from classmates. As a result of all of these factors, the performance of students
on examinations has improved dramatically compared with BI161: the mean exam
scores are higher while the level of sophistication of answers is greater.
This result has occurred despite the material being more complex and
the examination questions being more difficult and is due to the smaller,
more focused, and more engaging classroom environment.
In the laboratory
portion of the course, an investigative, project-based approach to learning
has been implemented using a semester-long research project. Within the scope of the four major lecture
concepts (respiration, metabolism, thermoregulation, and osmoregulation),
students working in groups of three design their own original research projects.
First, Prof. Tilden presents students with a list of general questions related
to lecture topics. Students then
chose a topic within which to develop specific research proposals.
In the initial weeks of laboratory, students learn skills such as library
use, literature (journal) searches, data collection, data analysis with basic
statistics, and graphics. During this time they also develop written research
proposals with references to the relevant literature, and they select appropriate
animals for their investigations, with strong encouragement to think beyond
the standard laboratory mouse model.
Prof. Tilden provides ample guidance for equipment use and suggestions
for experimental modification throughout the semester, but the responsibility
for appropriate decision-making, handling of animals, acclimation, and data
collection resides with the students. The research experience culminates in
a full laboratory report written as though it were to be submitted to a zoology
journal.
II.C.2. Chemistry Gateway Courses.
Colby’s chemists have noticed several significant effects of
reducing the class size in General Chemistry
and capping it at fewer then 48 (vs. the previous size of 125-150).
The faculty know
the students by name and notice when students are or are not in class. The faculty can lecture to a person instead
of to the room. Students have
a greater sense of obligation to the class, and as a result seldom skip class.
Several faculty who had received average teaching evaluations when teaching
the class in the large format have received improved teaching reviews since
the department moved to smaller sections. The smaller sections have also allowed
the department to offer General Chemistry, CH141, in both the fall and spring providing
students with flexibility in scheduling.
The laboratory component of General Chemistry has not changed in structure because all students from the
multiple lecture sections take the laboratory. The chemists have made extensive use of AIRE-funded instrumentation
in the laboratory. These experiments
were included as an appendix in the last report. One laboratory, updated by NSF-AIRE Fellow
Stephen Theberge, is available at the following Web address: http://www.colby.edu/chemistry/CH142/Lab/CH142ExptIII.pdf
II.C.3 Physics: Foundations of Physics I and
II.
At the present time, Foundations of Physics
I, PH141, has been
taught in two sections only once (Fall 2001), while Foundations of Physics
II, PH142, has been
taught in two sections twice (Spring 2000 and 2001). Associate Professor of
Physics Duncan A. Tate taught both sections of PH141 during fall 2001. From
his end of the semester evaluations, he gathers that students rated the smaller
sections of PH142 better than the large PH141 section in the previous semester.
Prof. Tate believes that from the instructor's perspective, smaller
sections mean a more manageable number of students during office hours. Office
hours can be very time-consuming in a section of 70 to 80 students if the
instructor has one or two other classes to teach. Prof. Tate believes that
the time saved is perhaps the main advantage for the instructor, given the
time demands of helping students and an inability of many students to attend
specified office hours. Helping these students at other times can detract
from class preparation time (setting up demonstrations), which has been at
a premium for Prof. Tate while he has been Chair of the Natural Science Division.
Prof. Tate thinks the smaller sections would work even better if the
lecture instructor were also to teach the discussions. Prof. Tate suggests
this approach would build on the instructor's familiarity with students and
make the discussions more integral to the course. He also suggests the main
issue is the perceived utility of the discussions by the students. If they
are taught by faculty fellows on one-year appointments, who do not attend
the lecture, the sections have less value to the students.
II.D. Advanced Science Courses.
The addition of project-based learning
components to advanced courses continues in all departments within the sciences.
II.D.1. Computer Science.
Over the past three years (1998-2001), the Department of Computer Science
(CS) has added five new courses to the curriculum, each of which has a project-based
component. All CS courses always
have project-based components, except for Analysis of Algorithms, CS375, and Introduction to the Theory
of Computation, CS378,
which are CS’s two theory courses.
The Department of Computer Science faculty consider project-based learning
integral to all of their courses. The only way that students can learn the
essentials of computer science is to practice these themselves, which usually
means writing a program to do something or making a high-level design of a
program. Some courses, such as our 100- and 200-level courses, have several
small projects (weekly or biweekly), but the upper-level courses typically
have one to four large projects that take up the whole semester. Students
each semester report that the real learning went on when they tried to do
the assigned projects.
For example, in the Computer Organization, CS232, course, Professor and Chair of Computer Science Dale
J. Skrien developed (over the course of about ten years) a software package
that allows the students to design a computer central processing unit (CPU)
and then write and run programs on it through simulation. Over the course
of the semester, he gives the students about ten projects using the package,
each asking them to add a new feature to a CPU they have designed and then
to write a program that uses the new feature. By the end of the semester,
students have designed two fairly complex CPUs and understand the advantages
and use of each of their features.
CS has seen an increasing trend in independent research projects, due
both to an interest in research experience and to the increasing number of
majors. CS projects, especially the independent
study projects, have become consistently more sophisticated over the short
lifetime of the CS department as an entity independent from Mathematics. These
changes are attributable to an increase in power in the software that CS uses.
For example, before Java and its library of code became available, it was
very difficult to write code that was network-based, such as interactive games
over the Web. With Java, even
a relatively unsophisticated student can write such code. Like most other
science departments, CS also has an honors program and senior scholar program
that provide opportunities for extensive research.
II.D.2. Biology.
II.D.2.a. Animal Behavior. In Animal Behavior, BI373, taught by Clare Boothe Luce Professor Catherine R.
Bevier, the proximate mechanisms and ultimate functions of behavior are explored.
During the first half of the course, students explore how genes, hormones,
and the environment influence behavior, and how the nervous system modulates
the expression of behavior. During the latter part of the course, they study
evolutionary influences on behavior and explore theories such as optimal foraging,
sexual selection, parental investment, and inclusive fitness. Students have many opportunities to explore specific topics
in animal behavior through their choice of articles from the primary literature
to critique or to discuss in student-led class discussions. The major writing project is a grant proposal
and students not enrolled in laboratory can address relevant questions about
any behavior in any type of animal.
Students enrolled in the laboratory use the grant proposal to organize
an independent research project, which is conducted during the final third
of the semester. Laboratory exercises
early in the semester introduce students to various techniques of collecting
and analyzing behavioral data and to various behavioral systems that are amenable
to experimental study. The projects
students eventually complete vary widely, from foraging tactics in spiders,
to conditioning in zebra finches, to female mate preference in mice.
The students present posters and complete a scientific report describing
the results of their projects. Some
submit their report for publication or present the results of their work at
the campus-wide research symposium in the spring.
The students enjoy the opportunities to investigate their specific
interests in behavior through the grant proposal and research projects, and
they get an exceptional practical research experience.
II.D.2.b. Evolution. The principles of microevolution, that
is, evolutionary change over short periods of time, lend themselves beautifully
to project-based learning, especially in investigations with medical or conservation
applications. In Evolution, BI320, students conducted a semester-long
inquiry into conservation genetics. Topics may change as students solve one problem and move to
another. For spring 2002, the
class will examine the status of a “variety” of monkeyflower that
grows only in Merrymeeting Bay in Maine.
This variety differs in several morphological traits from the more
widespread monkeyflower found on the margins of wetlands across Maine. At one point, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service considered listing the Merrymeeting variety as an endangered species,
but some observers believe it to be genetically part of the widespread monkeyflower
that looks strange because of its brackish habitat.
The Evolution
class will address the conservation genetics of monkeyflower using three approaches. In a common-garden experiment, they will
grow plants with seeds collected from Merrymeeting Bay with seeds collected
from other habitats. Students
will learn basic quantitative genetics techniques as they determine whether
adults are morphologically distinct when grown in a common garden.
The second approach is to collect data on allozyme frequencies from
various populations. This traditional approach to studying
population differentiation will teach students how to analyze frequency data.
The third approach is to sequence variable regions of chloroplast DNA
of plants from each population, and to build a phylogenetic tree from these
sequences. If the Merrymeeting Bay plants form a
separate genetic lineage, their status as a separate variety will be supported,
whereas if their sequences are intermingled among monkeyflower from other
regions, they will be perceived to have no distinct genetic identity. By obtaining and analyzing DNA sequences,
students will gain cutting-edge laboratory and analytical skills which are
useful in a variety of contexts. In addition, the class will address a question of immediate
concern to the conservation community in the State of Maine.
II.D.2.c. Neurobiology (BI274). This course was revised
in spring 2001 to include a research-based laboratory component. In her ongoing research, Clare Boothe
Luce Assistant Professor of Biology Andrea R. Tilden is interested in the
neuromodulatory role of melatonin in invertebrates. This very new area of research is represented by only a handful
of published studies worldwide and is wide open for investigation, especially
because melatonin appears to influence neuroregulatory processes quite broadly.
In the laboratory component of Neurobiology,
the class focused on “the neuromodulatory role of melatonin in invertebrates”
as the framework within which students learn various neurobiological techniques.
At the beginning of the semester, Prof. Tilden gave students a synopsis of
her research and of what is known about melatonin in invertebrates.
Then, together, the class developed a list of possible research projects
from the behavioral to the cellular level. The goal was to develop, within
one laboratory section, a series of projects in which the group explored interrelated
and complementary phenomena. For
example, one laboratory section studied the role of melatonin in the regulation
of circadian behavioral activity in fiddler crabs. One group studied behavioral
locomotor and digging patterns; one group studied electrophysiological activity
in locomotor nerves; and a third group studied the release of neurodepressing
hormone, a peptide that reduces locomotor activity. The students determined that melatonin influences behavioral
rhythms, apparently via a change in neural activity. The change in neural
activity may be induced by melatonin’s influence on neurodepressing
hormone. This research was the first of its kind in invertebrates and has
actually served as a pilot study for further work in Prof. Tilden's research
laboratory. Other laboratory
sections worked on a similar series of interrelated projects that were also
successful and served as pilot projects for further research. In fact, several of these students continued
their research as independent projects. Students were involved in all aspects of the project, including
experimental design (in the form of a written research proposal) and set-up,
literature review, data collection and analysis, and a final written laboratory
report in the form of a manuscript to be submitted to a neuroscience journal.
This laboratory research format is very labor- and time-intensive for students;
however, though students comment on the work intensity, Prof. Tilden has not
received any complaints about it. In
fact, because students were involved in real, original research, they felt
a true sense of value in their work, typically spent far more than the required
number of hours on their projects, and were in the laboratory on weekends
and evenings. Student evaluations
of this approach to the laboratory work have been unanimously positive.
II.D.3. Geology.
Project-based learning components have been
a staple of many Geology courses over the past decade or longer, usually occupying
the last 2-3 weeks of the term. Geology
students learn basic investigative processes and the technology required to
address such questions during the first half to two-thirds of these courses,
and then must apply these concepts and techniques to solve a given problem.
Examples of such project-based learning components include:
Optical Mineralogy,
GE226. In this course, students learn to
use both the petrographic microscope and x-ray diffractometer to identify
Earth's mineral components. In
the latter part of the course, each student is given an unknown mineral to
identify using these standard techniques.
With the acquisition of thin-sectioning equipment from NSF EAR 0087433,
students also will be required to make their own thin sections for examination.
Techniques learned in this course provide the basis to conduct field
investigations.
Record of
Life on Earth, GE251.
Field laboratories expose students to the collection of fossil assemblages
of the Pleistocene Presumpscot Formation in different geographic localities
in Maine. Students use these
collections as the basis of subsequent laboratories that focus on: (1) taphonomy; (2) morphometrics, systematics,
and data analysis; and (3) multivariate statistical techniques.
Structural
Geology, GE331. Field laboratories based on outcrops of
the Silurian Waterville Formation examine increasingly complex structural
components of this unit. Data
are collected in consecutive laboratories on the outcrop and include: (1)
strike and dip; (2) jointing and lineations; (3) fabric analysis (cleavage
and foliations); and (4) folding and strain relationships. Students are required
to develop their own geologic maps of the area investigated, and complete
a term paper in which the structural history of the rocks is presented, justified
by the data collected during the term. The project approach was presented
as a poster at the Northeast Section of the Geological Society of America
meetings, Burlington, Vermont (see Dissemination and Outreach section below
for citation).
Quaternary
Paleoecology, GE 372.
Students planning to enroll in this spring course conduct fieldwork
during the fall semester to obtain Pleistocene and Holocene core samples from
Maine bogs. These samples are processed for pollen
during the early part of spring semester, and are used as the base from which
the palynological term project is conducted. Students learn how to identify major pollen types, develop
pollen diagrams, and integrate their data in an effort to reconstruct the
vegetational history and, generally, paleoclimate implications of the site
investigated.
Ore Deposits,
GE 374. Students enrolling in this course have
taken Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, GE326 and GE 332. Hence,
students enter the course with the techniques required to conduct a semester-long
project on a selected suite of rocks and minerals from one of several economic
mineral deposits including porphyry and massive sulfides. An all-encompassing final report on the
mineralogy, economic viability, and exploitation of the potential mining site
is required of each student.
These courses provide students with the basic research tools required
of a geoscientist. Students within
the past two years who have presented results of their research projects at
National Geological Society of America meetings in Reno (2000) and Boston
(2001) have been offered and/or contacted about graduate program opportunities.
II.D.4. Physics.
Experimental Atomic Physics,
PH334, developed in 1998 by Associate Professor of Physics Duncan A. Tate,
emphasizes experimental and theoretical aspects of atomic and molecular physics. In spring 2000, NSF-AIRE Fellow Andrew
Kortyna team-taught PH334 with Prof. Tate. Dr. Kortyna modified the course
materials, incorporating project-based modules into the course. As mentioned above, this course included
many concrete examples of how research-grade equipment and techniques can
be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum.
II.E. Cross-Curriculum
Stipends.
During the summer of 2001, four faculty
across the College were selected through a competitive proposal process to
receive stipends to develop new or upgrade existing courses that include a
research component. Emphasis was placed on science distribution courses that
students take in completing their degree requirements and on courses that
strengthen education through research in specific majors outside the sciences.
Reports for each of the projects can be found at www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/ResThEd.html.
The projects funded were:
Environmental
Geology. Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor
of Geology Jennifer D. Shosa (Natural Sciences Division)
Science, Race,
and Gender. Associate Professor of History Paul R.
Josephson and Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor Biology Andrea R. Tilden
(Social Sciences and Natural Sciences Divisions)
Science, Technology,
and Society. Associate Professor of Science, Technology,
and Society James R. Fleming (Interdisciplinary Studies Division)
Globalization
and Social Justice. Assistant Professor of Government Ariel
C. Armony (Social Sciences Division) -- grant deferred until 2002.
Environmental Geology,
which is taught each fall, was restructured over the summer of 2001 to reduce
the enrollment to 50 students; remove the textbook as the backbone of the
course; include discussion periods and debates, guest speakers, project-driven
activities, field trips, and student presentations as integral aspects of
the course; and to use modular portfolios as the primary means of student
assessment. Next fall, this course will become a laboratory
course for the first time, and will include activities that could not be included
in the two 75-minute lecture periods each week. Two exciting discussion/debate/activity/presentation
modules were developed for fall 2001:
“Love Canal in the Classroom” and “Global Environmental
Policy Negotiations.” For
the former, the class was designed for students to conduct in-class role playing
as scientists, citizens, government representatives, industries, and regulatory
agencies. Follow-up activities
included reaching resolutions in groups and comparing those resolutions. In the Global Environmental Policy Negotiations
unit, the Kyoto Protocol and Rio Declaration of Environment and Development
were used to demonstrate how difficult such negotiations could be.
The class was asked to negotiate their own global environmental policy. Each of ten groups was assigned a country, which they researched
outside of class. Results of
these findings were presented orally, after which each group sent a representative
to the final negotiations (done during class time). In addition, a stronger assessment component
was added. Prof. Shosa followed
up this work by collaborating with NSF-AIRE Fellow Matthew Schwartz during
fall 2001 to develop the laboratories for next fall’s course.
Science, Race, and Gender
was taught for the first time
in fall 2001. This course centered
on the development of the concepts of race and gender in four different ways:
its institutional basis, its scientific content, epistemological issues that
surround notions of race and gender, and the cultural and social background
of the scientists and science that developed from 1800 to the present. Professors Tilden and Josephson set out
to organize lectures and discussions and select readings to cover the major
topics, all the while seeking to achieve a balance between history and science.
The course included a research project in which the students could
take a variety of approaches to any aspect of the topic.
Because of the enormity of the topic, Professors Tilden and Josephson
have found the challenge of developing this course intriguing and stimulating.
Science, Technology, and Society
is by definition a continually changing, multidisciplinary course. The goals of Prof. Fleming’s project
were to (1) enhance recruitment of STS minors, redefine this introductory
experience, and set the tone for the newly proposed STS major, (2) enhance
assessment of this introductory course, and (3) develop collaborations among
faculty throughout the campus. During
the summer of 2001, Prof. Fleming completely revised the syllabus of Science,
Technology, and Society
to enhance disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and to include
relevant case studies of interest to a diverse group of students. He identified and developed several appropriate
topics and resources for student research projects and designed special sessions
on the research process. Prof.
Fleming investigated Web authoring software and strategies to introduce students
to HTML and Web design. He researched student-oriented peer review and editorial practices
for their potential use in the course. He spent time clarifying curricular
goals of the STS minor and the pending STS major that need to be addressed
in this introductory course. He
developed two assessment questionnaires to use in the course. Finally, he invited several guest speakers
to make presentations to enhance student depth of comprehension and breath
of coverage.
II.F. Enhanced Independent Research Opportunities.
We view the January Program between semesters as an opportune time
to develop additional linkages to off-campus internships. We continue to build
partnerships beyond Colby by expanding an existing network of scientists who
take our students into their laboratories to conduct research during January
and the summer. Colby's Career Services Office has considerable
information about off-site opportunities and supports this effort.
We worked with the Career Services Office to use the newly developed
Natural Science Career Network to increase opportunities for internships and
employment with active research components at institutions other than Colby. Our alumni are very interested in helping
current and recently graduated students obtain internships and employment.
The Natural Science Career Network is a collaborative effort among Colby alumni,
the Natural Sciences Division, and the Career Services Office. In addition,
this Network has helped increase awareness on campus of off-site opportunities
and our faculty are increasingly participating in this type of planning.
For example, in the spring of 2002 two Colby students with have the
opportunity to travel to California and gain field experience conducting research
involving the submersible R/V Alvin in
the Pacific Ocean.
III. DOCUMENTATION AND EVALUATION
III.A. Steering
Committee.
The Steering Committee met regularly throughout the last year.
The group discussed numerous programmatic issues and the enhancement
of assessment mechanisms. The Principal Investigator and the Project
Director were responsible for convening the meetings.
III.B. Site
Visit to Oberlin College.
As a result of concerns raised during NSF's
spring meeting, the NSF-AIRE working group decided to organize separate activities
for AIRE and RAIRE awardees. For
AIRE, NSF conducted “Peer Site Visits” in 2000, in which a small
team of reviewers visited the project site to learn more about the IRE activities
occurring at each institution. Peer site visits allowed reviewers to hear
and see firsthand what each AIRE awardee was doing and to determine whether
they were accomplishing what they originally proposed. The report produced as a result of the
site visit has been used as a dissemination and outreach tool to make others
in the science and engineering research and education community aware of the
effective mechanisms currently being used to integrate research and education.
Every AIRE Project Director had the opportunity to attend a peer site
as well as host a site visit.
The site visits were a great opportunity for representatives of various
institutions to learn from AIRE recipients about all of the interesting IRE
activities occurring on each campus.
Site visits were one-day-long. Project Directors had flexibility in developing the agenda.
NSF requested that the team had an opportunity to interact with students,
tour the campus, and prepare the Site Visit Report.
Oak Professor of Biological Sciences F. Russell Cole was the Colby
representative to the Oberlin College Site Visit Team.
The visit took place on February 21-23, 2001. The visit was interesting in that Oberlin was just completing
a new science center and recently opened an environmental studies building.
A major part of the meetings dealt with Oberlin's assessment efforts. Contacts made during this visit resulted in two Oberlin faculty
members being invited to offer an assessment workshop at Colby in January
2002.
III.C. Assessment
Activities.
Assessment activities at Colby are routine, and we are veterans at
reviewing and evaluating our activities. We have extensive experience with
qualitative techniques and are now expanding our repertoire of quantitative
evaluation approaches. We are
engaged in several additional approaches to assessment that appear to provide
meaningful data.
On a regular basis (previously every five years and, effective in 2002-2003,
every eight years), a team of reviewers or overseers visits each department
on campus. Since our last report,
Colby has received the comments from the Department of Chemistry’s 2000
Overseers Visit and the Dean of Faculty has responded to those comments. The Overseers praised the department for
its extensive use of project-based learning and also for the innovative changes
within their gateway and distribution courses.
They also noted positively the large numbers of chemistry students
presenting the results of their research at national conferences.
During
the fall of 2001, the Department of Biology underwent an Overseers Visit and
a report is expected within several weeks.
These exercises provide valuable guidance for faculty and administrators
on all aspects of each department. The
Overseers to Biology reported in their exit meeting that they looked very
favorably upon the new pedagogical initiatives that have added project-based
learning components to courses throughout the curriculum. They noted the importance of reducing
enrollments in introductory courses and its positive relationship to pedagogical
effectiveness.
On December 10-11, 2001, Dr. Susan Singer, Carleton College, visited
Colby to provide additional assessment of our NSF-AIRE grant. She was selected because of her academic background and NSF
experience. She also served as
an Overseer to Biology this fall. Dr.
Singer reviewed Biology, Environmental Studies, and Science, Technology and
Society. A similar assessment
of our NSF-AIRE grant emphasizing the physical sciences will be conducted
in spring 2002.
During the past year, survey tools were developed for introductory
level gateway and distributional courses.
Students in most of these courses were surveyed this fall. We hope to develop a broader and more effective array of survey
tools during our upcoming assessment workshop in January 2002.
Workshops conducted through the NSF-AIRE grant continue to incorporate
an evaluation component that helps determine new questions for future programs.
A
pilot survey of graduates in the physical sciences (Computer Science, Chemistry,
Physics and Astronomy) was conducted to investigate the preparation of our
alumni for graduate or professional study. Thirty-four surveys were sent out to recent graduates who are
now in graduate or professional school. Seven responses (21% response rate) were received as follows:
Sent Out
Received
Chemistry
12
1
Computer Science 12
3
Physics
10
3
Skill development and overall preparation were rated as above average
or at the highest 10 percent for six of the seven graduates. Only one student
was rated average to below average in skill development and overall preparation. Several surveys indicated that providing
research experiences was an important way in which Colby prepared graduates
for advanced study.
Difficulties in surveying our graduates included finding correct addresses
for recent graduates to ask their permission to participate in the survey. Timing of the survey may have been problematic
in view of the fact that it took place at the end of the academic year when
many distractions may have reduced the response rate. Better timing, more accurate address information,
and a broader coverage of the sciences should be considered if the survey
is repeated.
IV. DISSEMINATION AND OUTREACH
IV.A. Colby
Research Symposium.
The second college-wide research symposium was held on May 3-4, 2001. In addition, many other research talks
were given in April and May as students across the curriculum neared the end
of their culminating research experiences.
During the Colby Research Symposium 2001, students from all four academic
divisions of the College presented 54 oral and 19 poster presentations.
Students gave an additional 72 oral presentations on other dates in
April and May 2001. The program and abstracts can be found
on our NSF-AIRE Web pages (www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/SympProg00.html). The keynote speaker, Dr. Jonathan Foley, an environmental scientist
at the University of Wisconsin, spoke on “Human Activity and a Changing
Biosphere: An Interdisciplinary Study of Planet Earth.” Dr. Foley spent two days meeting with
students and faculty to discuss common interests.
IV.B. Carnegie
Mellon RAIRE/AIRE meeting.
The RAIRE/AIRE meeting was held November
29 - December 1, 2000 and Russell Cole, David Firmage, and Philip Nyhus attended.
Hosts were Linda R. Kauffman (Principal Lecturer, Department of Biological
Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University) and Janet Stocks (Director of Undergraduate
Research Initiative and Director of Fellowship Resource Advising Center at
Carnegie Mellon University). Representatives from each school described their AIRE experiences,
addressing the following questions: what is unique about your setting (i.e.,
what did you start with), what problems/challenges were you trying to address,
what solutions did you come up with, and what would you have done differently?
Concurrent sessions were held on assessment issues, outreach/partnerships,
and technology. A campus lecture was given by Dr. Joseph Bordogna, Deputy
Director, NSF. Colby presentations given at the meeting
were as follows:
Firmage, David
H., F. Russell Cole, and Edward H. Yeterian. Highlights of Colby College's NSF-AIRE grant.
Nyhus, P.J.,
F. Russell Cole, and David H. Firmage.
Using NSF-AIRE to Introduce New Technology for Teaching and Research
at Colby College.
In addition,
a Colby contribution to a related book project was based on this meeting presentation
and has been submitted:
Nyhus, Philip
J., F. Russell Cole, David H. Firmage, and Edward H. Yeterian. Teaching Fellows:
An Innovative Approach to Facilitate the Integration of Research and Education
at Colby College.
IV.C. NCUR Meeting.
On March 14-17, 2001, ten students and faculty from Colby attended
the 15th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) held
in Lexington, Kentucky. Seven
students were funded to attend and present results of their work with support
from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The NSF-AIRE grant supported the travel of Oak Professor of Biological
Sciences F. Russell Cole, Clare C. Piper Professor of Environmental Studies
David H. Firmage, NSF-AIRE Fellow Larkspur S. Morton, and NSF-AIRE Fellow
Andrew Kortyna. Unlike most professional meetings, NCUR 2001 emphasized undergraduate
student research. The great majority
of the presentations were given by students. Students had a wonderful opportunity
to gauge their research progress relative to their peers at other institutions.
The plenary talks were also targeted toward undergraduates.
Our students experienced firsthand the processes of scholarly exploration
and discovery that are typical of academic life.
IV.D. On-campus
Workshops.
On May 24, 2001, NSF-AIRE Fellow Dr. Larkspur
Morton coordinated a well-received workshop entitled, “Inquiring Minds
Want to Know: Engaging Students in the Process of Discovery in Lectures, Laboratory,
and the Library.” The sessions were organized by topic with point persons
leading the discussion. Topics covered included beginning and guiding the
process of inquiry, using one’s own research as a basis for student
inquiry, critical interpretation of intellectual works, teaching students
to analyze critically their own research, use and interpretation of statistics,
and the costs and benefits of inquiring together or alone. The agenda for
and summary of the workshop can be found at the following Web site www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/TW2001.htm.
Dr. Morton also
was active in the Writing Across the Curriculum program and participated in
several workshops including one on evaluating student writing.
On June 4-6, 2001, NSF-AIRE Fellow Philip Nyhus coordinated a workshop
on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the classroom. Thirteen faculty, staff, and students
participated in this three-day workshop, designed primarily for college educators
with little or no prior GIS experience. Participants were taught about GIS software and hardware and
how GIS can be used in the classroom and laboratory. During the first day, participants were given a general overview
of GIS, basic data models, components of GIS, sources of GIS data, GIS databases,
and GIS software. These participants
were then exposed to ArcView GIS, one of the most commonly used GIS platforms,
with which they learned how to create maps, work with legends and symbols,
and add text to the map. They
also learned many other mapping skills. During the second day, the group delved deeper into more advanced
levels of cartography and ArcView GIS. During the final day, the group conducted a case study of a
nearby local lake, the skills from which will be directly applicable to the
course, Problems in Environmental Science. The final evaluations
indicated that the workshop was well received and participants left ready
to move to advanced levels of GIS.
Biology. Merrill Associate Professor and Chair of Biology W.
Herbert Wilson, Jr. attended the annual meeting of the Wilson Ornithological
Society (WOS), held May 3-6, 2001 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
As Chair of the WOS Committee on Undergraduate Outreach, he organized
and led a teaching workshop at the meeting. The focus of the workshop was the value of independent research
projects in undergraduate ornithology courses.
Three students who had taken Ornithology,
BI 334, with Prof. Wilson at Colby attended the meeting and participated in
the workshop. In his Ornithology
class, Prof. Wilson requires each student
to conduct an independent research project and prepare a poster presenting
their results. For the WOS workshop,
the three students brought the posters they prepared describing their independent
projects. A portion of the workshop
was devoted to a poster session where participants could read the posters
and ask questions of the students.
After viewing the posters, Prof. Wilson made some introductory remarks
about the value and success of the independent projects in his class. Each student then made uncoached comments
about the value of the project for themselves. Each student had positive remarks
about the independent exercise. After additional workshop participants had
presented, the group had a free-wheeling discussion about inquiry-based laboratories.
The three Colby students participated fully in the discussion.
Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor Andrea Tilden has been working
with neuroscientists at Bowdoin and Bates to develop common Web-based resources
(information regarding graduate programs, neuroscience meetings, techniques,
equipment available at the three schools, and videotaped guides for various
neuroscience procedures). The
faculty from all three colleges plan to use these resources in their neurobiology
courses. They are also coordinating
opportunities for students to visit the other two CBB schools to gain hands-on
experience with techniques not available at the students' home institutions.
NSF-AIRE Fellow
Larkspur Morton was a member of a committee organized to investigate issues
of academic computing on campus. This
committee discussed issues related to the use of technology in teaching and
how the college could improve support for related efforts such as Web page
support and support for complex computing.
Biology
and Environmental Studies. Piper Professor of Environmental Science (ES)
David H. Firmage has engaged in three additional activities.
•
Oberlin College Conference - June 21-23, 2001.
Prof. Firmage was invited to attend this AIRE-funded conference, the
goal of which was to work out elements that should be found in an ES curriculum
at liberal arts colleges. It
gave him an opportunity to describe what Colby has been doing and how the
AIRE grant has aided us in accomplishing our goals.
Our course Problems in Environmental Science BI493 was featured in those discussions
as well as the ways in which we attempt to insure that students have research
experiences by the time they graduate.
•
CEED (Center for Environmental and Economic Development) - Allegheny
College - June 8, 2000 and November 18, 2001.
Prof. Firmage serves on the advisory board of CEED. During these meetings, he met with members
of the Biology and ES departments at Allegheny and discussed service learning
and project-based courses as well as independent student research (a major
component of CEED).
•
Bowdoin College - Oct. 13, 2000; Jan. 5, 2001; May 9, 2001; June 6,
2001. Prof. Firmage serves on the Service Learning
Advisory Board at Bowdoin. In
those meetings he has been called on to give advice concerning project-based
learning courses that have a component of service learning. He has spoken extensively about Colby’s
activities, including the pitfalls and the successes. The purpose has been to help advise some
faculty who are just beginning such efforts at Bowdoin to increase the amount
of student research occurring there.
Chemistry. The following talk was presented at the spring 2001
American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego.
The paper described the use of computation in the chemistry curriculum
at Colby. It was an excellent example of how we
use research-grade equipment often and pervasively in the chemistry curriculum.
Abstract. Thomas W. Shattuck, Stephen U. Dunham,
D. Whitney King, Shari U. Dunham, Dasan M. Thamattoor, Julie T. Millard, Bradford
P. Mundy, Rebecca R. Conry, and Margaret H. Hennessy, 2001. Molecular Modeling
in the Undergraduate Curriculum. Computational chemistry is a manifestation
of chemical theory that provides a set of skills and tools to help guide the
insight of our students in solving problems. We introduce a unified array
of computational techniques early and build upon them pervasively in every
course that we teach. We use molecular orbital theory and molecular mechanics
and dynamics to understand molecular interactions. Stereo visualization is
a useful research and teaching tool to underscore the molecular perspective.
The vast amount of information at our disposal is difficult to digest and
must be organized using informatics tools and model building. We use QSAR
and informatics to predict molecular properties and function. Computational
methods are actively used in lecture, homework, laboratory, and student research.
Computational chemistry is an ideal teaching tool to introduce new concepts,
provide a framework for independent discovery, and provide a link between
lecture and laboratory.
Computer Science (CS).
Members of the Department of Computer Science are participants in the
Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education of the Association for
Computing Machinery and in the Consortium for Computing at Small Conferences.
They also meet each semester with the CS departments at Bates and Bowdoin
to discuss pedagogy. This group is called the CBB CS Consortium.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Randy Jones was on the program
committee for the Tutorial Program at the Annual Conference of the Cognitive
Science Society, held this past year in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Tutorials
program at Cognitive Science provides conference participants with the opportunity
to gain new insights, knowledge, and skills from a broad range of areas in
the field of cognitive science. Tutorial topics are likely to range from practical
guidelines to academic issues and theory.
Professor and Chair of Computer Science Dale Skrien participated in
a workshop on using active learning in teaching object-oriented design at
OOPSLA 2000 (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications),
October 15-19, 2000, in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He also participated in a Workshop on
Component-Based Software Development
at The University
of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, June 11-15, 2001. This workshop focused on how to teach
computer science using the pervasive software components in modern computer
systems instead of having the students start from scratch.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Clare Congdon presented the
following talks:
C.B. Congdon,
“Robots Don't Rule: Some Thoughts on Using Robots for Introductory CS,”
the American Association for Artificial Intelligence Spring Symposium Series,
2001, Stanford University.
C.B. Congdon,
“Experiences with Small Robots,” Powerpoint slides from “The
Use of Robots in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Experience Reports” panel
discussion at SIGCSE-2001.
C.B. Congdon,
“Machine Learning for the Masses,” Curriculum Descant column for
Intelligence magazine, Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest
Group in Artificial Intelligence, vol. 12, no. 2, Summer 2001.
Geology. Robert Gastaldo, Whipple-Coddington Professor and Chair
of Geology, continued to assist the American Geological Institute (AGI), Alexandria,
Virginia, with their development of a National Science-Standards Based Curricular
program EarthComm. EarthComm
is an Earth Science curriculum supported by the National Science Foundation
and donors of the AGI Foundation. Through EarthComm, AGI focuses attention
on the national deficiency in high school Earth Science education (grades
9-12) and on development of a complete high-school Earth Science curriculum.
The curriculum has been in development for the past six years and is now available
to high schools through It's About Time,
which publishes mathematics and science curricula that are standards-based
and funded by NSF. Prof. Gastaldo
was responsible for the original development and pedagogy behind the last
EarthComm Chapter, Earth System Evolution, and was the author of Changing
Life.
This past year, this last module was revised and completed. It is now at the printers and will be
available in 2002.
As part of the Structural Geology
course, the following paper was presented recently:
Shosa, J.D.,
M. J. Charles ‘02, C. F.
Lindley ‘02, A. L. Randall ‘01, W. R. Simpson ‘02, W. J.
Tackaberry ‘01, and L. J. Wilcox ’01. The Class Research Project
as a Curricular Foundation for a Structural Geology Course. Geological Society
of America, Abstracts with Program. 33(1): A75.
IV.F. Web
site.
The Colby NSF-AIRE Web page (www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/)
is a useful way of disseminating information gathered from the activities
of this grant. We have made considerable material accessible to those who
wish to use it and, when we are queried about our activities, we can quickly
point to this Web site.
A Web article on postdoctoral life at liberal arts colleges can be
found at http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2001/03/15/3.
Three of Colby’s NSF-AIRE fellows are quoted as well as a new hire in
biology. As discussed in Section
IIA, the model we developed for the NSF-AIRE grant has been quite successful
and may be useful to other institutions.
IV.G. Colby
Partnership for Science Education.
The Colby Partnership for Science Education
(CPSE) (www.colby.edu/cpse) had a productive year again during the third year
of Colby's NSF AIRE grant. Science
workshops for local school teachers were held and science equipment and curricula
for the area schools were provided with funding from Colby's Howard Hughes
Medical Institute grant. These activities were administered by Associate Professor
and Chair of Chemistry Whitney King. His efforts were supported by a stipend
from the NSF AIRE grant. In addition,
NSF-AIRE Postdoctoral Fellow Philip J. Nyhus assisted with a local geology
group (lead by Ruth Deike) doing work on campus. He developed a geographic
information system (GIS) base map for the students and talked with her about
different ways to use GIS and global positioning systems (GPS).
IV.H. Papers and Presentations.
Colby’s science faculty routinely disseminate the results of
their research programs. A compilation
of their publications and presentations can be found at http://www.Colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/Dissem.html#Papers.
CONCLUSIONS
(1) Colby's model
of NSF-AIRE postdoctoral fellows represents a win-win situation for both the
fellow and the institution. The
College benefits from the expertise of the postdoctoral fellow who can help
enhance curricular development and research programs. The fellows gain valuable experience prior
to vying for tenure-track positions. Our postdoctoral teaching fellow model may be appropriate for
other institutions.
(2) Colby has
made major strides in the integration of research and education within and
outside the Natural Sciences Division at all levels of the curriculum. We are particularly proud of our efforts
targeted at distribution and gateway science classes where the maximum class
size has been reduced dramatically and project-based learning incorporated
into all classes. Reduced class
sizes allow the use of more productive and personal types of pedagogy.
(3) Course development
stipends have proven to be an effective incentive to expand the integration
of research and education outside of the sciences at all curricular levels
as well as for 100-level (introductory) distribution courses in the sciences.
We have been especially pleased with the positive responses that we
have received from faculty outside the natural sciences, who have been eager
to incorporate project-based learning components into their curricula.
(4) We have been
successful in expanding the opportunities for students to conduct research,
especially during Colby's January Program. We have also expanded opportunities for students to report
the results of their research either on campus at the College-wide research
symposium or at regional and national meetings.
(5) Our efforts
at dissemination continue to grow and Colby continues to strengthen this aspect
of our academic culture.
(6) We continue
to enhance an already broad program of assessing our academic initiatives
and incorporating assessment practices of various kinds into the culture of
the institution.
(7) In summary,
in the third year of Colby's NSF-AIRE grant, we continued to make significant
gains in the integration of research into our educational program. It is notable that we have met key objectives
of our AIRE grant in ways that are sustainable and that will continue to benefit
both students and faculty.