strategies 32

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1/8

Strategies for Success is published three

times a year as a service to undergraduate

science instructors. It is intended to stimu-

late ideas, disseminate solutions to com-

mon obstacles, and update readers on

recent developments and findings. We

welcome comments, contributed articles,

and suggestions for future issues. Please

contact the Editor at [email protected]

or via fax at (978) 465-6658. Past issues

of the newsletter are available on our Web

site at www.awl.com/bc/.

P U B L I C A T I

F O R S C I E N

A basic understanding of science and how itsprinciples apply to everyday life is an increas-

ingly important part of being a well educated,

critical thinker. This growing importance is

reflected not only in the recently developed stan-

dards for K-12 science education, but in the efforts made by college faculty

to bring science principles to non-science majors. This issue is devoted to the

idea that science can and should be approachable and relevant for students

majoring in non-science fields. From the first lecture, to experiential assign-

ments, to overall vision for the course, our contributors share their strategies

and philosophies for meeting the challenge that non-science majors present.

Our sincere thanks go to the science instructors who have shared their

ideas and experiences in this newsletter. May their words help you to share

your enthusiasm withall studentsmajors and non-majors alike.

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In This Issue TEACHING

SCIENCE TO

ALL STUDENTS

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continued on page 2

W I N T E R 2 0 0 0 N O .

About The Newsletter

THE F IRST LECTURE : ENTHUSE THEM

OR LOSE THEM

Mike Silver, Hope College

Steve Russo, Cornell University

Isnt it a pleasure to teach an upper-level course to a group of

majorsstudents who not only know why they are in your class but also

elected to be there? Well, this article is not about them. This article is about

teaching the first day of an introductory-level class to a group of non-

majors. A tougher assignment you say? Wrong, because this is an oppor-

tunity to express your enthusiasm and love for science in all sorts of ways.

And you had better! Studies show that student evaluations taken after the

first day of class and at the end of the semester are nearly identical. In other

words, first impressions count. If you turn them off in that first 50 minutes,

they will prioritize your class dead last. You need to infect them with your

enthusiasm and show them that you care about their learning.

What we will do in this article is give you our list of ten ingredients for

a successful first lecture to non-majors. You can add them to your lecture in

varying amounts, but remember, a good stew is more than just the beef.

Before we give you our ten ingredients, remember the two command-

ments of lecturing.

I: Thou shalt be prepared. Being prepared means more than knowing your

stuff. It means having a well executed syllabus to hand out, having all mate-

rials ready to go, and having thought through any potential problems ahead

of time.

1 The First Lecture: EnthuseThem or Lose ThemMike Silver, Hope College

Steve Russo, Cornell

University

3 Bringing Science EducationStandards to the College LevelM. W. Caprio

Volunteer State Community

College

4 Finding the Themes Amongthe Details in BiotechnologyDavid Bourgaize

Whittier College

5 MMWR: Case Histories: An

Effective Technique for the

Non-MajorChristine L. Case

Skyline College

7 Teaching Science toNon-Science Majors

A Personal ViewMichael Johnson

West Virginia University

8 News and Events


2/8

cerns? Write items on the board as they come (either

verbally or written anonymously on cards) and accept

them all (no critiquing allowed). Tell students that you

will shape your course to include the list. This gives

them part ownership, which they will appreciate.

Ice Breaking. Have a few students get up and tell

you their name, their class (fresh, soph, etc.), their

major, and their career plans. Write them on the board.

This is fun and allows the class to get to know each

other. Since most introductory students feel that every-

one else is better prepared than they are, an exercise like

this can show them they have nothing to worry about.

Enthusiasm. Like a germ, your enthusiasm is

infectious, but so is your boredom. However you show

enthusiasm for being somewhere and for doing some-

thing, make sure you do so in your first lecture.

Anticipatory Set.This means doing something to

grab their attention right at the outset. For example,

walk into class and just stand there, saying nothing.

They will watch you like a hawk. Then start doing some-

thing without explanation. Light a wooden splint and

then ignite an explosive, hydrogen filled balloon. Upon

exploding, stare at them and utter the word

Chemistry! You most certainly will have their atten-

tion at that moment.

Anti-Atlas Maneuver. So many instructors believe

that all student learning rests on their shoulders, much

like the world rests on the shoulders of the Greek

mythological figure, Atlas. Its just not true. You dont

always have to spoon feed them. Give them the spoononce in a while. The most common way to do this is to

have the students form groups to work on a problem.

Give the groups a planned structure and directions to

follow and, because there is bravery in a group, you may

actually get some volunteered responses.

Use these and other ingredients liberally and wisely

and you will have a recipe for a powerful first lecture.

We all have an off day as instructors. Just dont make it

your first day. Enthuse them on day one, or lose them

for the semester. Its up to you.

Editors Note: Steve Russo and Mike Silvers textbook

Introductory Chemistry: A Conceptual Focuswas published in

December, 1999. Like their lectures, their book aims to

engage all non-major students in active learning.

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II: Thou shalt do something visual. Unless you are as

entertaining as Jerry Seinfeld, you must do something

beyond just talking to combat the 20-minute human

attention span. Something visual generally works well

with this generation that was brought up on musicvideos and computer games.

Ten Ingredients for Cooking Up a Successful First Lecture

Anxiety Management.This is a powerful ingredi-

ent. Too much or too little can destroy the whole meal.

Your students come to class with a tremendous amount

of anxiety. Imagine their anxiety as a huge wave. Your

job is to climb on top of that wave and ride it, use it to

your advantage. This means that you should take risks

and do some things you normally do not, all in an effort

to grab them during that first lecture.

The Mechanic. Going over the mechanics of thecourse (the syllabus, how you grade, what is assigned,

etc.) is an essential ingredient. It shows that you have

put some time into preparation, and that there is a well

defined plan to follow. Contrary to some opinions, stu-

dents do not like a lets see where this course takes us

approach. The unknown frightens them, especially

when a grade is involved.

The Plunge. Good morning class. Lets begin by

reviewing the spherical polar coordinate system, which

we will need for comprehending the wave functions

generated by the Schrdinger equation. Should youplunge into the course material during the first lecture?

Absolutely! It demonstrates that you consider class time

and the material to be important. However, you should

probably do this toward the end of your lecture, and not

go so far into the deep end.

The Comedian. Good morning class. Hey!

Chemistry is not an occupation, its a personality disor-

der. But seriously, take my wife, please! Now, we dont

recommend starting your first lecture this way, but we

do recommend that you add some humor. It demon-

strates that you are human, which your students are not

sure of yet. A couple of low-key humorous stories or

references can more than do the job.

Coming Attractions. So often we save the good

stuff (the applications, the demonstrations, the reasons

why the course is relevant) until later. Give them a look

into your box of goodies during the first lecture so

theyll have an idea of what is to come.

Problem Posting.Ask students What would you

like to cover in this course? or What are your con-

Enthuse Them or Lose Them

continued from page 1


3/8

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. teachers would be better at teachingStandards-based K-

12 courses if they had a Standards-based education.

Second, current K-12 educators are busily reading

the literature and attending conferences to learn how to

retool their teaching tactics for better alignment with the

Standards. With every year that passes, more and more

students of these retro-fitted teachers will be appearing

in our college laboratories and lecture halls.

They will have been exposed to construc-

tivist approaches to teaching and learn-

ing, will have had the experience of

learning science by inquiry, and will

have more skills for collaborative

learning and independent studybut

perhaps fewer skills to help them suc-

ceed in the more passive, traditional learning environ-

ments. It is important that we be ready to meet these

students with teaching tools that will work for them; if

we dont, we put them at risk, and we are the ones who

will be seen as being out of step with the new realities of

science education. Things are changing.

Third, a more abstractbut nonetheless impor-

tantreason to align college teaching with the national

standards is: its fun. For the teacher, enjoyment comes

in the satisfaction of seeing learning in action. With stu-

dent-centered teaching there are daily opportunities to

see students becoming involved with the course materi-

al, with each other, and with the instructor. The excite-

ment of learning is very much in evidence: Aha! experi-

ences are daily events for students, and teachers findthemselves smiling a lot when they can watch their stu-

dents discover the subject matter and construct its

meaning for themselves.

How Can We Translate the Standards into Collegiate

Terms?

Who can we look to for a translation of the

Standardsinto collegiate terms? It has to be someone

whom we trust to be intellectually honest. Professional

societies and publishers of science curriculum materials

both come to mind.

Professional societies played a large role in develop-ing the national standards. They are significant players in

the science education system and most recognize a

responsibility to work with teachers and teaching institu-

tions if we are to successfully effect scientific literacy for

all students.

At present, the College Division of the National

Association of Science Teachers is developing a book

that will be just such a translation (Working title:

Pathways to the Science StandardsUniversity/College Edition).

continued on page 4

B R INGING SCIENCE EDUCAT ION

STANDARDS TO THE COLLEGE LEVEL

M. W. Caprio

Volunteer State Community College

TheNational Science Education Standards(NRC, 1996)

are giving science educators across the country a coher-ent approach to teaching that will help them to promote

science literacy for all students. Although the Standards

are, on the surface, a K-12 document, post-secondary

science education affects their implementation and is

also very much affected by them. Without the coopera-

tion and commitment of college teachers, the K-12

component may falter; and it is that same K-12 compo-

nent that will ultimately affect what happens in college

classrooms.

What are the Standards?

The Standardsare a shared national vision of what

science education ought to be, and a tool for achieving

science literacy for all citizens. TheNational Science

Education Standardswere published by the National

Research Council (NRC) in 1996 after a broadly based

and well organized national dialog involving hundreds

of teachers on all levelspracticing scientists, educa-

tional administrators, and leaders of industry. The

impact of the Standardsis already in evidence: most

states have modeled local standards after the NRCs

work and granting agencies and local school administra-

tors are establishing project priorities in terms of how

well proposals align with the national standards.

The Standardsspecifically address six areas: teach-

ing, professional development, assessment, content,

programs, and systems. The standards for the first three

of these are based firmly on recent advances in the cog-

nitive sciences that have brought us a clearer under-

standing about how people learn; the standards for the

last three topics sharpen our understanding of the spe-

cific subject matter and process skills that constitute sci-

ence literacy. They also place science education in a

larger cultural context. Taken together the six standards

are driving the reform movement and are, therefore, themost thorough description of its goals that we will find

in any one place.

Why Should College Instructors be Concerned about the

Standards?

While the Standardsare explicitly about K-12 sci-

ence education, three implications of their message are

extremely relevant at the college level.

First, as college educators, we teach the pre-service

K-12 teachers. Since we know that students tend to

teach as they were taught, we also know that future


4/8

4

Science Education Standards


how exciting, is largely a temporary mastery of a set of

details. This does not guarantee an appreciation of the

field that will last.

Surely there must be some themes that can come

out of a course that will last, and remain important to

the student even ten or twenty years down the road. As

I pondered this, I began to believe that a possible

answer lies not in what technical details they learn, but

in what non-technical realizations they might come to

that can influence the way they think about biotechnol-

ogy, and perhaps all science, for a great many years.

Below I describe three such themes that can arise from

the technical details of a biotechnology course.

What we learn in science reflects a great many

non-scientific biases. Scientific research, and therefore

scientific learning, costs money. In order to obtain

money, researchers must justify their endeavors, often

to non-technically trained individuals or

groups. The work that gets enough money

to proceed must therefore be appealing

in some way to those outside of science.

Widely different views of what is impor-

tant exist, and recognition of this is

exceedingly important in understanding the

limitations of scientific understanding at any time. One

can argue that the Rockefeller Foundation, beginning in

the 1930s, literally founded the field of molecular biolo-

gy, and therefore greatly changed all of biology, simply

by awarding tremendous amounts of money to mole-

cular-level research efforts. While I have no doubts thatsuch efforts would have happened at some time, they

were greatly accelerated by the money. Rockefeller felt

that it was important to bring biology into the realm of

the more quantitative physical sciences, and his wealth

allowed that to happen. The story, of course, is much

more interesting than this, since Rockefellers initial

interest in improving biology stemmed from a decid-

edly eugenic goal of understanding how human here-

dityindeed all of human society can be controlled

and governed.

Biology is complex. Nowhere is the complexity of

biological systems more apparent than in trying to

understand the way that different populations interact

with each other. Such interactions inevitably involve a

great many variables, often unknown to us, and there-

fore can generate unexpected results or surprises. The

breeding of corn provides an excellent example. At one

point, it was found that selectively breeding for a partic-

ular trait, male sterility, led to significantly higher yields.

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The table of contents and preface are in a recent issue

of theJournal of College Science Teaching(Caprio 1999).

Commercial publishers of science curriculum mate-

rials are another source ofStandards-based support for

college teachers. New texts eventually will be Standards-based from the ground up, and existing books will

require new supportive supplements to extend their

longevity in the marketplace. One advantage that this

sector of the science education system offers is that

their contributions will likely be keyed specifically to the

products we are using.

Science education is changing and is changing for

the better, and theNational Science Education Standardsare

leading the way. We can facilitate the change for our-

selves and our students by working closely with col-

leagues, professional societies, and educational publish-ers to become a part of the reform movement and to

share in its excitement.

References

Caprio, M.W., (1999). Navigating the Standards,

Journal of College Science Teaching, Dec. 1999/2000.

NRC (National Research Council) (1996).National

Science Education Standards, National Academy Press,

Washington, DC.

FINDING THE THEMES AMONG THE

DETA I LS IN B IOTECHNOLOGY

David Bourgaize

Whittier College

Recently, after a hiatus of several years, I again had

an opportunity to teach a course in Biotechnology

geared toward non-science majors. I began to think

about the many technical developments in the field

since last I taught the course. Sheep were cloned. A

number of genome sequencing projects were finished.

The completion of the human genome sequence isimminent. These seem to warrant a great deal of atten-

tion in the course I was about to teach, but did not war-

rant such attention only a few years back. This drove

home a point that I sometimes lose sight ofmuch of

the technical material that I teach to this particular

group of students will soon be forgotten. They will in

many instances never delve into this field again in such

detail. Their exposure to the technical details, no mattercontinued on page 5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


5/8

5

Seeds for this highly in-bred strain were marketed and

planted widely in the US. Rather suddenly, several years

later, over one quarter of the national corn crop was

devastated by a particular disease. It turned out that

selective breeding of this particular trait, in addition toincreasing yield, also greatly reduced resistance to this

particular pest. The attempt to engineer the plant back-

fired because of an unexpected interaction with another

population. This could not have been foreseenin fact,

it was only after this incident that the relationship

between these two species was so greatly appreciated.

No matter how much we know about a particular topic,

there is probably something of great importance that we

dont yet know.

What we know at any time will change, and

probably quite rapidly.This is a natural continuationof the theme above. As we continue to learn, previously

held dogmas yield to more accurate representations.

Soon after the rediscovery of Mendels experiments, fur-

ther study of inheritance in humans revealed that many

traits are inherited in a strictly Mendelian fashion. It was

not long before such traits as feeblemindedness, crimi-

nality, alcoholism, sexual desire, and intelligence were

quantified and found to be inherited as Mendelian

traitsthrough badly done or even falsified science.

The resulting eugenics movement of the 1920s and

1930s became the most widespread use of bad science

in support of social and political goals that this country

has ever seenalthough some would argue that we

might well be in the midst of such a phase even now,

with our increasing reliance on genetic explanations for

a wide variety of problems. Unlike the example of corn

breeding above, the misuse of genetics to support social

programs could have been foreseenand was, although

only by a relative minority. It is important to realize that

firmly held dogmas are subject to change.

I have described three of many themes that I find

important enough to stress in my own class. These

themes arise from our discussions of tools and tech-niques, and are usually accompanied by immersion in

one or a few historical examples. Such stories, besides

being important, surprising, and perhaps even amusing

in some respects, illustrate ways in which science (not

just biology) can be understood to be a human venture.

I am quite convinced that while the tools and techniques

that students learn will become obsolete, the themes will

not. And it is this, after all, that I am after when I teach

a course for non-science majors. .

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CASE H I STOR I ES :

AN EFFECT IVE

TECHNIQUE FOR

THE NON-MAJOR

Christine L. Case

Skyline College

Case histories provide

an excellent opportunity to

present theoretical information through practical and

accessible real-life examples. Science majors and non-

majors alike enjoy applying what they have learned

through popular media and their textbooks to case his-

tories such as the one that follows.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

have stated that the most important means of prevent-

ing disease transmission is hand-washing. This case

history illustrates the importance of hand-washing in

everyday activities and can be used during a discussionof homeostasis.

To begin, give your students a list of suspect

pathogens or poisons to research before class. Some

examples are: botulism, ethylene glycol,E. coliO157:H7,

legionellosis, hepatitis A, listeriosis, malathion, nitrite,

salmonellosis, shigellosis, staphylococcal enterotoxin,

and enteroviruses. Then, examine the following cases

individually and together to find the commonality.

The Problem

1. Kansas. A 6-year-old boy was admitted to a hospi-

tal with a temperature of 40C, vomiting, and bloodydiarrhea of 10 days duration. The boy was dehydrated.

What caused his dehydration and what are the consequences of

dehydration? How should the boy be treated?Vomiting and

diarrhea cause dehydration which reduces blood volume

resulting in insufficient blood to vital organs (hypo-

volemic shock). Shock can be a life-threatening condi-

tion. The boy was rehydrated with intravenous fluids.

Nine days later, his 3-year-old brother also developed

diarrhea.

Why did the 3-year-old get sick?A household source is pos-

sible. If its an infectious disease, transmission from the

first boy to his brother is also possible. Ten days after

returning home, the 6-year-old again experienced

bloody diarrhea and a temperature. No one else in the

household was ill.

How do you account for recurrence in the 6-year-old?The boys

room and habits need to be investigated.

2. Arizona. A 3-week-old boy was admitted to the

hospital with a temperature of 39.7C, vomiting, and

continued on page 6

Finding the Themes Among the Details



6/8

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All of these children were around reptiles. How do you account for

case 4, the child who did not have direct contact with the iguana?

The bacteria could have been transmitted to the child

from a family member who had handled the iguana or

on food or utensils contaminated when the kitchen sink

was used to wash the lizards cage and dishes.

What recommendations can you make to prevent future infections?

The risks for transmission ofSalmonellafrom reptiles to

humans can be reduced by thoroughly washing, with

soap and water, hands and/or objects that have been in

contact with reptiles and by preventing reptile contact

with food-preparation areas. Reptiles should not be kept

in homes with children aged less than 5 years, with

immunocompromised people, or in child care facilities.

Discussion

All the children had either direct or indirect contact

with reptiles. Bacteria isolated from stool samples were

serotypes associated with reptiles. Rare Salmonella

serotypes associated with reptiles, such as Java, Marina,

Stanley, Poona, and Chameleon, increasingly have been

isolated from humans. (Currently there are 2,434

Salmonellaserotypes divided into two species, S. bongori

and S. enterica. S. entericaserotypes are usually associated

with warm-blooded animals; S. bongoriare usually

associated with cold-blooded animals.) Many reptiles

are colonized with Salmonellaand intermittently shed the

organism in their feces. Humans become infected by

ingestingSalmonellaafter handling a reptile or contami-

nated object and failing to wash their hands properly.

In the United States, pet turtles were an importantsource of salmonellosis until commercial distribution of

pet turtles less than 4 inches long was banned in 1975.

This ban led to a 77% reduction in the frequency of

turtle-associated Salmonellaserotypes isolated from

humans during 1970-1976. The popularity of other rep-

tiles as pets is growing and reptile-associated salmonel-

losis once again poses a substantial threat to human

health. An estimated 3% of households in the United

States have a reptile. In 1998, approximately 93,000

cases ofSalmonellainfections were attributable to pet

reptile or amphibian contact.

Source:Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report(MMWR)

48(44):1009-1013 (Nov. 12, 1999), MMWR48(45):1051

(Nov. 19, 1999).

bloody diarrhea of 15 days duration. The infant was

hospitalized for 10 days and treated with intravenous

fluids.

What is normal human body temperature? What causes fever?

Normal body temperature is 37C. The hypothalamuscan activate warming mechanisms in response to a

decreased body temperature or prostaglandins. One

month later, the boy spent 2 days at a relatives farm; 48

hours after this visit, the infant was again treated in an

emergency department for

diarrhea.

What can you conclude about the

cause of the symptoms?There

appears to be an environmen-

tal source as opposed to per-

son-to-person transmission ofan infection. The 48-hour incubation time indicates an

infection rather than an intoxication.

3. Massachusetts. An 8-year-old boy with congenital

immune deficiency developed severe vomiting, abdomi-

nal cramps, bloody diarrhea and headaches three days

after his room was repainted. The boy was treated with

intravenous fluids and amoxicillin.

What is the purpose of amoxicillin?Amoxicillin is an antibi-

otic used to treat bacterial infections.

4. Wisconsin. A previously healthy 5-month-old girl

suddenly died at home. No significant macroscopic orhistologic findings were revealed during autopsy; how-

ever, culture of a blood sample yielded gram-negative

bacteria. The cause of death was attributed to

septicemia.

Is this an infection or a poisoning?Isolation of gram-negative

bacteria indicates an infection.

How will you proceed to find the source(s) of illness in these chil-

dren?Cultures from the children in cases 1-3 need to be

taken to determine infection and environmental surveys

need to be done.

Environmental Findings1. The brothers had two corn snakes that they handled

regularly.

2. The family had a pet monitor lizard that was moved

to the relatives farm after the boy became ill.

3. Three days before the boy became ill, the family pur

chased two iguanas from a local pet store.

4. The family had a pet iguana that did not come into

direct contact with the infant.

MMWR: Case Histories



7/8

7

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Non-science students need to have science demysti-

fied. We can start by emphasizing that some of the most

profound and seemingly difficult scientific principles are

based on certain predictable rules that govern the natur-

al world. The laws of conservation of mass and energy,

for example, apply equally well to the physics of motion,

chemical bonding, and cellular metabolism. A few sim-

ple principles can be woven together into a rich scienti-

fic tapestry.

Non-science students need to be allowed to experi-

ence the sense of awe and wonder about the natural

world that we scientists have probably all felt at one

time or another. How does a single fertilized egg

become a human infant of trillions of cells in just nine

months? How does an entire ecosystem stay in balance?

Most students are naturally curious, and we turn that

curiosity to a teaching advantage by finding subjects that

interest them.

Non-science students need to be taught the process

of science. How do we gain new knowledge, and why

does the best explanation of the time seem to change

over time? How can they apply the processes of science

in their own lives? The scientific process will take on a

more personal meaning if we teach our students how to

make observations, form their own hypotheses, and

propose how their predictions might be tested.

Non-science students need to be allowed to discov-

er on their own. They need to be allowed to have the

aha! experience, that epiphany that comes with sud-

denly reaching a new level of understanding. Whereverpossible we need to use examples consistent with their

everyday experiences so that they can reach that new

level of understanding themselves.

Non-science students need all of these things now,

not two years from now. For many of them, a one-

semester course may be their only exposure to our field.

We cannot afford to waste any of our precious time

with them.

We owe society college graduates who are at least

minimally scientifically literate. We owe society citizens

and voters who can be critical thinkers and who appreci-

ate science even if they do not choose careers in science.

We owe the students themselves the very best chance to

experience the joy and excitement of scientific discov-

ery. We owe them our fullest attention.

Editors Note: Michael Johnson is currently writing a text-

book on human biology with the mission of making the

course more relevant to students lives. It will be pub-

lished by Benjamin/Cummings in December 2000.

TEACHING SCIENCE TO NON-SCIENCE

MAJORS A PERSONAL V IEW

Michael Johnson

West Virginia University

Several years ago I chaired a committee to select

two outstanding biology juniors for a prestigious full

senior-year scholarship. When asked to describe her

favorite non-science course, one applicant happily

described a Music Appreciation course she had taken

recently. Yet when asked to recommend a science

course for her non-science roommate, her response was

immediate and decidedly negative. She said, I couldnt;

there arent any courses for her level. Science is too

hard. You have to slog through all those early courses

with all that complicated terminology before you get to

anything fun.

I took her response as a challenge. If shes right,

then science is destined to remain misunderstood andout of reach. If shes wrong, then we need to take a hard

look at how we teach science to non-science majors.

What follows are a few personal observations designed

to stimulate thought and stir debate, drawn from my

own experiences as a biologist.

First, the young lady does have a point. My own

university does not offer a biology course specifically for

non-science students. Students wishing to take just one

semester of elementary biology must take the first

semester of a two-semester sequence that is required of

certain majors. Competition for grades is keen. My uni-

versity is not unique in this regard. An examination of

75 randomly selected college and university course cata-

logs revealed that biology courses designed specifically

for non-science students are available at fewer than half

of them.

Second, where biology courses for non-science

students do exist, they often bear a strong resemblance

to simplified versions of courses originally designed

for majors. Whether this is the influence of history or

whether it is by design, these

courses are laden with terminol-

ogy and facts and light on basic

principles and recurrent themes.

Should non-science stu-

dents be taught differently than sci-

ence students? The answer is yes, with

the understanding that different

does not mean dumbed-down. They deserve to be

taught differently because their needs are different.


8/8

students to find the information you need.

We welcome your comments and sugges-

tions for further improvements.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES

Texas Community College Teachers Association

March 24, Austin, TXAt the Addison Wesley Longman booth you can view

new books and software from Benjamin/Cummings

Science, includingIntroductory Chemistryby Steve Russo

and Mike Silver.

American Chemical Society

March 2630, San Francisco, CA

For more information on the ACS national meeting,

please visithttp://www.acs.org/meetings/

sanfran2000.

National Science Teachers Association

April 69, Orlando, FL

Online registration and other information are available

athttp://www.nsta.org/conv.

American Society for Microbiology

May 2125, Los Angeles, CA

A preliminary program can be accessed at

http://www.acmusa.org/mtgsrc/mtgs.htm.

Human Anatomy & Physiology Society

June 915, Charlotte, NC

Details about the 14th annual conference are posted at

http://www.hapsweb.org.

Benjamin/Cummings Science1301 Sansome Street

San Francisco, CA 94111http://www.awlonline.com/bc(800) 950-2665

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BU L K RA TE

U.S. PO S T A G E

P A I D

PAL O AL T O , CA

PER MI T NO . 140

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.SPR ING WORKSHOP SER IES

Having added a new chemistry track to

the Strategies for Success science teaching

workshops, we have expanded the quantity

and variety of session choices for attendees.

Program topics range from motivating non-science

majors and improving difficult lectures to using theInternet and CD-ROM materials in the classroom.

Dates and locations for the spring workshop series will

be posted on our Web site at the end of January. For

more information, please visithttp://awlonline.

com/bc and select Strategies Workshops.

A LL I ED HEALTH STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

Over 100 students applied for the 1999 Benjamin/

Cummings Science Allied Health Scholarship, submit-

ting a short essay describing their decision to pursue a

career in Allied Health. Congratulations to the following

winners, who will each receive $1000 and a seat on our

student advisory board:

Jeremy A. Basse, Carroll College

Sylvia Deily, Los Angeles College of Chiropractic

Brian E. Ellis, Olympic College

Christine Renee Guerrero, Johns Hopkins

University School of Nursing

Linda K. McClain, Austin Community College

For more information on the scholarship program,

please visit our web site athttp://awlonline.com/bc

and select Student Union.

WE RE ON THE MOVE!

Now that the Benjamin/Cummings Science office

has relocated to downtown San Francisco, we are also

re-designing our online home athttp://awlonline.

com/bc. With improved navigation and search cap-

abilities, our Web site makes it easy for you and your

Newsletter Editor: Cindy JohnsonDirector of Marketing: Stacy Treco

Art Director: Lillian CarrPublishers/Executive Editors: Daryl Fox, Erin Mulligan, and

Ben RobertsSponsoring Editors: Lynn Cox, Elizabeth Fogarty and

Amy FolsomMarketing Managers: Lauren Harp, Jennifer Schmidt, and

Joshua Frost

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