The Joint Science Department of The Claremont Colleges has developed an interdisciplinary first-year course that will help students address scientific questions, such as global warming, nanotechnology, computer-brain interfaces, robotics, and modern medicine.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the course asks the question, “How do we understand nature?” from the perspectives of biologists, chemists, and physicists.
Newt Copp, the Sidney J. Weinberg, Jr. Chair in Natural Sciences, says faculty were concerned that without a new approach students may not gain the kind of nimbleness they need to prepare for the big scientific questions to come. This course is thought to be the first of its kind in U.S. higher education.
“Many of the scientific questions on the horizon will require an interdisciplinary approach…an integrated knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology,” says Copp. “This yearlong course will provide students with the knowledge and flexibility they will need to work across boundaries.”
Copp notes most college science students take introductory courses in each of these disciplines, typically over three years. This is too slow, and students don’t always see the connections between the disciplines. The new course will replace the three distinct courses, beginning next fall. Those students who complete both semesters of the course will be given preference for summer interdisciplinary research fellowships.
The faculty in the Joint Science Department developed the course through a grant from the NSF Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Talent Expansion (STEP) Program—created by Congress five years ago to improve American economic competitiveness in science and technology fields by encouraging undergraduates to major in natural sciences.
“This course not only will better prepare our students, but it also will enable them to accelerate their progress into advanced science study, and will provide them with more flexibility in sophomore and junior years to consider study abroad,” says Copp.