If you actually can get rid of FroSci we will love you forever Deantini

Today the student body received an email from Deantini updating us on the progress of the Committee on Science in the Core. His email linked to a proposal by the committee, outlining the generalities of a new course which would serve as an alternative to Frontiers of Science. The proposal characterized the class as:

• “Being similar to other Core courses, particularly Literature Humanities (LH) and Contemporary Civilization (CC), in being taught in small sections (seminar style)”
• “Beginning with the Big Bang, it considers the formation of elements, stars and planets…the formation of our own planet…the evolution of life on earth and the mechanisms of inheritance…the emergence of large-brained animals and the neurology and psychology of our species…[and] the ways in which human decisions and actions have modified the planetary environment”
• “[Offering] a sequence of short scientific texts (“foundational texts”), written at moments where important breakthroughs have been made”
• “[Providing] a picture of how scientific research proceeds, showing how ignorance is focused through inquiry, how questions are posed, methods of investigation developed, and how partial successes lead on to new lines of questioning.”
• “[Having] the provisional title – The Rough Guide to the Universe (RGU)”
• “Supplemented by ancillary texts, which provide a more contemporary introduction to the major ideas of the field, and which also connect the central concepts to contemporary questions.”
• “[Including] concepts and techniques from mathematics and statistics [which] will necessarily figure in presenting some of the course material.”
• “Recognizing the value of potential field trips – perhaps a visit to Central Park to attune students to the observation of geological phenomena, or a trip to the AMNH to bring out important themes in the history of life”
• “Examinations being designed by seminar leaders (with oversight from the course director) to reflect their specific teaching style and content focus”
• “[Assembling] as quickly as possible a bibliography that will help non-specialists in the various scientific areas become more fluent on relevant topics.”
• “Study guides for the texts all being posted on Courseworks at the beginning of the semester”
• “Even the most scientifically sophisticated first-year students will find themselves facing questions they haven’t previously had to address”
• “[The] reading required of students in RGU being considerably less burdensome than that demanded in LH or CC”
• “[Hoping] to achieve greater diversity among the authors of the foundational and the ancillary texts” but “expecting the authors of the texts assigned to retreat into the background”

The text of Deantini’s email is reproduced below:

Dear Students,

I am writing to give you an update on the discussions regarding a possible new Core science course. I wrote to you last November when the Committee on Science in the Core released a progress report. The work of that committee is now complete and they have given me a proposal for a new course. The report is posted on the College website. (We have not posted the appendices referenced in the report because of the confidentiality of information provided within them.)

The proposal is for a new Core course that utilizes a seminar format, similar to Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization, and is structured by a historical narrative, presenting a range of topics drawn from across the sciences – from the Big Bang to the formation of elements, stars and planets to the evolution of life on earth. It concludes with a segment investigating the ways in which human decisions and actions have modified the planetary environment. The proposed syllabus includes a sequence of scientific texts describing important breakthroughs, and is designed to develop understanding of important concepts and capacities for critical scientific reasoning.

Although the Committee on Science in the Core has detailed specific proposals for the course, there is still considerable work to be done before a new course could be offered. I have asked the Committee on Science Instruction to assess the recommendations of the Committee on Science in the Core and guide the further development of this effort. It is possible that a pilot course could be offered to a small cohort of students in the next academic year. The course would be evaluated to determine whether it should be further implemented. For now, Frontiers of Science will remain as the required science course in the Core Curriculum.

I want to thank all of the members of the Committee on Science in the Core for their hard work over the past two years. I am deeply appreciative of what each of them contributed to this course development effort.