1999 Report to the NSF on Colby College’s

Award for the Integration of Research into Education

The first year of Colby’s National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Award for Integration of Research and Education (AIRE), has been very successful and has brought significant attention within and beyond Colby to the issue of integrating research into education. The first year of the grant served to build momentum for this effort and to set the stage for the final two years of the grant. During the past academic year, Colby’s Natural Sciences Division formed a Science Steering Committee with the mission of preparing a planning document for the early years of the new millennium. The Steering Committee, comprised of most of the same people on the AIRE Advisory Committee, is cognizant of current, national trends in science pedagogy. The AIRE proposal effort was instrumental in adding breadth and intensity of coverage to the planning committee.

The entire Division was involved in the planning discussions. In the spring of this year, the Division produced The Plan for the Sciences to Begin the New Millennium, which is full of important documentation and which our administration and faculty view as a guide for the next five years. This comprehensive document, based on the academic precepts that are the curricular foundation, provides 44 recommendations for research-based introductory "gateway" courses, distribution courses, and advanced courses; professional development; facilities for teaching and research, staffing; gender issues; student support; equipment; admissions; science outreach; assessment; and dissemination. The principles and goals of the AIRE grant have been very important in guiding planning regarding training of students. This grant bridged the period when the 1991 Plan for the Sciences drew to a close and when the new 1999 Plan was being prepared.

During this first year of the grant, the major emphasis has been placed on hiring the NSF AIRE Fellows whose participation in the grant is central to many of our efforts to integrating research more completely into the science curriculum. The positions of the NSF AIRE Fellows are described on the NSF AIRE Web site (www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/). We were successful in filling each of the positions as follows: Biology -- Dr. Larkspur Morton, Chemistry -- Dr. Steve Theberge, Physics -- Dr. Andrew Krotyna, and Interdisciplinary Studies -- Dr. Philip Nyhus.

The four Fellows have arrived on campus and been through faculty orientation. They will participate in curriculum development, teaching, and research. They will help to integrate research projects into distributional-requirement courses for non-science majors, introductory level courses, and advanced courses. They are involved in helping reduce the size of the introductory biology courses and in developing laboratories for chemistry and physics distribution courses. Smaller class size will make it possible to incorporate more research into the courses. The new 1999 Plan now incorporates plans for reduced laboratory size in introductory biology and for incorporating laboratories in distribution courses taught in chemistry and physics. The planned distribution course, Biodiversity , is now built into the Biology Dept. curriculum. The distribution courses in physics and chemistry will be taught during the January period during Colby’s JanPlan, an ideal time for intensive work. The Fellows will be instrumental in carrying out this aspect of the proposal and the 1999 Plan.

A course stipend has been offered to revamp Statistics (MA112) to include more group problem solving and project work. Prof. of Mathematics Homer T. Hayslett will focus less on regression and more on t-test and ANOVA. He will also add a brief section on experimental design. This approach will broaden our students analytical thinking and problem solving skills, will enhance students’ understanding of statistics and their use in data analysis, and will better prepare students to conduct research.

Funding also was allocated to preparing Robotics (CS117) in the Dept. of Computer Science, to be taught for the first time this year. This course is an introduction to computer science and programming of small robots. It is designed for non-science majors completing their distributional requirements, and will emphasize hands-on experiences with programming of robots. As in Statistics, this course will address our proposed outcomes for our students including enhanced independent and critical thinking skills; improved ability to formulate questions, solve problems, and design and complete projects; to learn new technical skills; to develop inquisitiveness; to become active learners; and to acquire analytical thinking skills.

Integrating Research across the Curriculum. During the summer of 1999, five faculty across the curriculum were selected after a competitive proposal process to receive stipends to develop or upgrade courses by integrating an enhanced research component into them. Emphasis was placed on distribution courses that all students take in completing their degree requirements and on courses that strengthen education through research in specific majors. The five courses selected for this effort, described on Colby’s NSF AIRE Web page, are:

These courses address our proposed outcomes of enhancing interdisciplinary linkages within and beyond the Natural Sciences Division and strengthening the research-oriented culture on campus.

Geological Capability Enhanced. With support from the NSF AIRE grant, the Dept. of Geology purchased an Olympus model SZ-40 zoom stereomicroscope, OLY-750 high-resolution micro-television camera unit, and SONY 13" high-resolution monitor. This equipment was put into use in the spring semester in the Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (GE332) class, in which students were shown side-by-side images (with a second similar setup on a transmitted light polarizing microscope and thin section) of rock specimens. Students compared and contrasted the thin section images, which are the heart of petrographic work, with how the same arrangement actually appears to the eye in hand-held specimens. Having the closed-circuit television images of each enabled the entire class to appreciate comparisons and to adjust sample positions and orientations comparably. The equipment will be used in the fall semester in both the Mineralogy (GE225) and paleontology (GE161, GE252, GE254) laboratories. In Mineralogy, students can now be shown critical diagnostic factors in individual mineral specimens and how these factors are consistent among specimens from Maine or Malawi. This equipment has greatly improved our laboratory demonstration capabilities in each course and will help our students become more active learners. Having this equipment will enhance the capability for student/faculty interactions not only in classes with research components, but also with independent projects in these areas.

During the first year of the NSF AIRE grant, the ten-person Advisory Committee was headed by Principal Investigator Edward Yeterian (VP for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty) and Project Director and Science Division Chair Russell Cole (Oak Prof. of Biological Sciences). The members of the committee are found at Colby’s NSF AIRE Web site (www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE). This committee has been active in providing guidance on this grant and in working with the chairs of the four academic divisions of the College to integrate research into education within each division.

Colby has an established pattern of assessing its programs, including but not limited to, course evaluations. A goal of this grant was to continue assessment of the outcomes of past planning efforts. In the next year, Colby will be inviting outside specialists to the campus to review our grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and to assess our progress in preparing students for conducting research and for their post-baccalaureate careers . The NSF AIRE grant and HHMI grant overlap and this is an opportunity to gain feedback on both grants. During the 1997-1998 academic year, Colby conducted an assessment of alumni from the Natural Sciences Division who graduated during the previous five years. This assessment was important to providing information on the progress of alumni who had been science majors. Alumni were asked what part of their undergraduate education best prepared them for their careers overall. Those who had attended or were attending graduate or professional school were asked if they thought they were prepared for these endeavors. Alumni were also asked what they would have done differently during their undergraduate careers and what courses they felt they should have taken. Finally, these alumni were asked about their research experiences while at Colby and how they assisted in preparing these graduates for their careers. This assessment was so successful that Colby’s science and mathematics faculty are now planning two similar assessments: one supported by this NSF grant and one supported by the HHMI. The next assessment will be conducted during the fall 1999, surveys will be mailed to graduates in the sciences from the past ten years. In addition, Colby will be hiring work-study students to help with the organization and analyses of the data received. All of our faculty pay particular attention to the results and find them useful in steering strategic planning for the curriculum.

Colby’s NSF-AIRE Web Site. A key aspect of dissemination of information regarding Colby’s efforts to integrate research into the science pedagogy on campus has been to develop a Web page (see http://www.colby.edu/NSF_AIRE/). This Internet site offers information on Colby’s NSF AIRE grant including the goals of the grant, the NSF award announcement and the associated press release, a Colby Magazine article on the grant award and goals, a statement of Colby’s commitment to "education through research," and Colby’s Partnership for the Sciences Program involving outreach to grades K-12. This report on the first year’s activities is also on the Web page. As grant developments occur, the Web site will be kept current.

Professional Meetings and Societies. Faculty and students have the opportunity to discuss their experiences regarding the role of research in education while at professional meetings. During the past year, students conducting research in the Craft of Research class of the Science, Technology, and Society Program made presentations at the National Association of Science, Technology, and Society meetings in Baltimore, Maryland (March 4-7,1999). Colby students participated in a roundtable discussion on the goals of the NSF AIRE grant, with each making a presentation on her or his research. These presentations included research on "The History of the Clean Air Act Amendments" (Bethany Knorr), "The French Nuclear Industry" (Patrick Upatham), "Alternative National Healthcare Systems" (Raji Gupta), and "Ethical Value of Technology" (Wesley Baff). The abstract states that the team believes that the AIRE program will have "major implications on our campus for the re-integration of the humanities and sciences and for the enhancement of interdisciplinary research." These students along with their advisor, Dr. James R. Fleming, published their work in the Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society (Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 329-331, August 1999). These presentations are examples of our efforts to improve the speaking and writing skills of our students (numerous other students traveled to national meetings as well throughout the past academic year).

Professors of Biology David Firmage and Russ Cole both attended the meeting of the Northeast Environmental Studies Group. This group spent considerable time discussing the role of research in science pedagogy. Profs. Firmage and Cole published on this issue during the year and made a presentation related to the capstone course, Problems in Environmental Science.

Professor of Computer Science Dale Skrien participated last year in a workshop entitled, "Object-oriented Curricula: The Future of CS2" while he was at the Object-oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications Conference in Vancouver, B.C. on October 18-22, 1998. The workshop addressed how object-oriented languages and design affect the second course in computer science and the full first year of computer science in the undergraduate curriculum. Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science Clare Congdon met last spring with computer science faculty from Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin Colleges. During that meeting, Dr. Congdon spoke on the use of robots in computer science classes (the talk title was "Robots across the Curriculum"). Further, Dr. Congdon has been developing a Web site for using robots in computer science classes in collaboration with professors from Bowdoin College.

In addition, Professor of Biology Herb Wilson serves on the Undergraduate Outreach Committee of the Wilson Ornithological Society. During the past meeting in June (held on the Colby campus in Waterville, Maine), he discussed the value of ornithological research in undergraduate education and emphasized the goals of this grant.

Seminars and Poster Sessions. At the end of the first year of the grant, students had opportunities to present posters describing aspects of their research. Many departments provided forums for their majors conducting research (honors research in some cases). Teaching students to communicate the results of their research is a natural step in their professional training, helps build their communication and critical thinking skills, and develops their ability to answer questions about their research. The AIRE Fellows will work with the Project Director to expand these seminars more widely on campus and to fulfill our proposed outcome of teaching students to make presentations so students can learn to present results of their research effectively.

Colby’s Partnership for the Sciences. In the late 1980s, Colby developed a partnership with the four nearby school districts in which faculty and staff of the Natural Sciences Division actively participate. Over the past ten years, Colby has offered a wide variety of workshops for teachers of grades K-12, answered questions for teachers and students, given tours to classes visiting the campus, purchased scientific equipment for the Area Resources Center (an equipment "lending library" that the four districts share), and much more. For the past eight years, Colby has offered a high school or junior high school the opportunity to have a full-time teacher who substitutes for teachers from that school while they take courses at Colby in science or education. This past year, Colby provided training to school teachers on the use of the Internet through two different workshops, by purchasing six computers for the Area Resources Center, and by offering 100 teachers access to the Internet for a year. These workshops were a huge success. Information about the Partnership can be found at www.colby.edu/cpse/.

During the past year, Prof. of Biology David Firmage worked with students from Kotlas, Russia — the sister city of Waterville, Maine. During the 1998-99 academic year, there was a high school student exchange program. While in the Waterville area, the 12 Russian students spent time at Colby learning water sampling methods and water quality analyses. An article in the Kotlas Connection newsletter can be found on the Colby NSF AIRE Web site. All of these efforts support the goal of conducting outreach as part of the NSF AIRE grant.

The Sciences Career Network. As part of the survey of science and mathematics alumni, recipients were asked if they would be willing to participate in a Sciences Career Network. Students looking for opportunities to conduct research during January or the summer can talk with participants in the network to identify new opportunities to conduct research and to obtain employment. The Career Services Office at Colby has received names and contact information for alumni willing to participate in the Network. This Office has computerized the information so that students can search by name or career type and can talk with alumni about potential research opportunities at their institutions. This Network is just getting off the ground and will become increasingly useful to our students as we integrate the data from the surveys into the alumni database and into the database of the Career Services Office on campus. The Sciences Career Network is one important way we hope to develop new partnerships yielding research opportunities for our students.

The first year of the NSF AIRE grant has already had considerable impact on the College community and on our planning process. The goals of the NSF AIRE grant are consistent with and incorporated into The Plan for the Sciences to Begin the New Millennium. The stipends for integrating research into courses have increased recognition of the importance of research in teaching students across academic divisions. We are particularly excited about the arrival of the NSF AIRE Fellows on campus and the changes in the curriculum they will help catalyze. We look forward to the second year of the grant when we implement significant changes in the curriculum, smaller introductory classes with enhanced research components, additional inquiry-based approaches in courses for non-science majors that are part of distributional requirements, more significant capstone courses for seniors, and maintenance of the momentum generated by this unique opportunity for our students.