Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
In 2013, Macaulay Honors College redesigned its required science curriculum to focus on scientific literacy skills rather than content. Central to this shift was inclusion of a data collection event, a BioBlitz, to provide students with the basis for their own semester-long research projects. Students are teamed with naturalists in an urban green space to find as many species as they can in 24 h and to contribute to a global biodiversity database via the app iNaturalist. We have learned two important lessons: (1) developing an interdisciplinary curriculum with a high degree of experiential learning is more successful when both STEM and non-STEM educators are involved and (2) students in a general education course can be involved in authentic scientific research even if their classroom has no time or space for a laboratory. Through our required science course, Science Forward, and its BioBlitz, students get broad exposure to science as a way of knowing, rooted in lived experience and the world around them. Students make connections to each other and to the city that serves as their laboratory. Macaulay considers scientific literacy, access to scientific information, and connection to one’s own environment pillars of an equitable and justice-oriented education.
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Biodiversity Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Laboratory and Basic Science Research Commons, Outdoor Education Commons, Research Methods in Life Sciences Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Social Justice Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons