Science Education in Two-Year Colleges : Environmental Sciences / Sandra J. Edwards.

The interdisciplinary components of science instruction at two-year colleges are examined as revealed by curriculum offerings in environmental science, integrated science, and the history of science. Part I of the report reviews the literature concerning the rationale, objectives, course content, and instructional methods of interdisciplinary science courses, as well as the components of and instructional practices in environmental sciences. Part II summarizes the findings of a study of catalogs and a survey of science instructors at 175 colleges. These studies were conducted to analyze the science courses offered in the 1977-78 academic year and to assess the instructional practices used. Major findings outlined in this section show that: (1) while interdisciplinary and environmental science courses made up 4% of the science courses listed, 89% of the colleges included one or more of these courses in their schedules of classes; (2) 70% of the environmental science courses listed were designed for environmental technology majors; and (3) interdisciplinary science instructors were predominantly experienced, full-time teachers using a variety of non-traditional techniques. Part III provides summary observations pointing to the small percentage of colleges offering integrated sciences in vocational curricula, the lack of goal clarification in interdisciplinary offerings, and the value of interdisciplinary sciences in developmental education. (JP)

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