NSF Award
8652161
Continuing the high quality of science education which historically has been provided by the small liberal arts colleges of this country will require serious consideration of the problems now being faced by the administrations, faculties and departments of these institutions. The National Science Board's recent report on Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education states that "Serious problems, especially problems of quality, have developed during the past decade in the infrastructure of college-level education in mathematics, engineering, and the sciences." This conference focuses on fostering collaboration among institutions as one method of addressing these problems, capitalizing on the increased resources and diversity which could be provided through cooperative programs. The conference will address problems now affecting the undergraduate science curriculum. Too often these complex problems are given a simplistic diagnosis and routine prescription: more time, more equipment, better students. In contrast to that approach, this conference will raise questions about undergraduate science education aimed toward provoking discussions of new cooperative approaches and new answers. Conference participants will be drawn from 25-30 institutions representing a broad range of geography, institutional types, etc. An administrator and a faculty member will comprise a team from each. The conference will be held in November, 1986 with a schedule beginning on a Thursday evening with a banquet and keynote address, followed by 1 1/2 days of conference activities. The conference format will invoke three Sessions: Session 1 (The Issues) - A plenary session in which questions concerning faculty, physical facilities and curricular strategies will be raised by a group of panelists with experience in the cooperative programs conducted by Five Colleges, Inc. This will be followed by small group sessions led by one or two of the panelists in which agreement on precise descriptions of the problem in each area will be sought. Session 2 (Collaboration) - Demonstrations and discussions of Five Colleges, Inc. cooperative programs will be the focus - including cross- registration, faculty exchanges, and joint appointments. This will be followed by small group discussions led by Five Colleges, Inc. faculty. Session 3 (Strategies and Solutions) - The workshop discussions of the previous session will continue in greater depth. The final activity will involve a plenary session devoted to further discussion of the problems defined earlier and how cooperation might address them. In order to reach a wider audience, a conference report will be prepared for dissemination to colleges around the country.
