Two West Virginia University professors were among the participants in a unique science education program presented this summer in California.

Kasi Jackson and Jane Caldwell attended the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) gathering this past August at Santa Clara University. Fifty-three other institutions of higher learning were also represented at the event, sponsored by the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement.

Jackson is an assistant professor in the Center for Womens Studies and Caldwell is a coordinator in the Department of Biology. Both disciplines are housed in WVU s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Participants during the four-day institute worked alone and in teams to development courses that will teach rigorous science content by utilizing problems that require scientific knowledge and expertise.

Jackson and Caldwell are involved in a year-long planning process to enhance science education at WVU . Plans include development of a course that will teach biology to non-majors using aBiology in the Newstheme.

They are also interested in collaborating with other college or university faculty, community members, students, and K-12 educators on this or similar SENCER projects.

Caldwell finds the SENCER approach to course designparticularly promising,she said.

Many students who choose majors outside the sciences seem to worry that science courses will be dull or difficult,Caldwell said.We are excited that this method will help engage our students by placing scientific content in an interesting and engaging context.

WVU prides itself on being a student-centered research university, and efforts like SENCER will further enrich this goal by linking course concepts with issues that affect students outside the classroom,Eberly College Dean Mary Ellen Mazey said.

SENCER is a national dissemination project designed to promote reform through faculty development, a focus on local systemic change, and improved assessment strategies.

The project is supported with a grant from the National Science Foundation and is designed to improve science education, especially for students who are not science majors; to connect science education reform to more robust and relevant general education programs; and to stimulate informed civic engagement with scientific questions by todays students.

For more information, please contact Kasi Jackson at kasi.jackson@mail.wvu.edu or at 304-293-2339, ext. 1154.