2 oS VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 30 88 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD), COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN « WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION Inviting Nontraditional Students into the Science Culture Nontraditional students can feel academically at-risk in their first college science courses. It is imperative that science teachers implement innovative approaches, create novel pedagogic techniques, employ extraordinary strategies, and, in general, discover an elixir to affirma- tively embrace this population within the science culture. Some strategies (learned through trial and error) seem to work: 1 Breaking the “isolation barrier” and forming a learning community. The first class session begins with an informal introduction to the course, the instructor, and all the members of the class. After revealing my age, background, how | entered teach- ing, my most embarrassing moment (along with other anecdotes), students are invited to introduce them- selves, tell why they enrolled in the class, describe the picture that comes to mind when they hear the course title, describe their current occupation, and explain their future goals. Along with these brief biographies, tension-reducing laughter is provoked by asking them to identify their favorite animal, or !east-liked food, or preferred color, etc. Those who are continuing students are asked to mentor neophytes to the college. Students are urged to exchange phone numbers and to form cooperative study groups. Perception of the world and construction of meaning. The second week involves examining perceptions and how we construct the world from sensory information and prior experience. | offer some optical illusions, and the students are directed to draw their own illusions and explain what they sense from these images. Incomplete and ambiguous figures, gestalt representations, after-images, moving illusions, and discrepant events are examined to show how percep- tion is influenced by senses, associations within the brain, preconceptions, expectations, and cultural influences. There are no “right” answers for any of these activities. Students, working in groups, learn that while we each may view the same thing or idea, we may perceive and react to stimuli differently. There is no absolute way to evaluate information, not unless we agree on arbitrary standards to measure and evaluate qualities. 3. Students as participants to clarify conception and reception. Course objectives are followed in lectures and illustrated by laboratory activities. However, students are encouraged to participate in question and discussion activities during lecture. It is essential that these students verbalize and gain a proficiency with the language that they have difficulty in pronouncing and graphically writing. During the lecture portion, the students are invited to recapitulate, in their own words, how they interpret the content. With the right atmosphere, such activity initiates student interaction in verbalizing the material, and it permits examination of preconceptions, or naive assumptions, which can be exarnined. [One student courageously, but frustrating|v, asked after extensive review of Darwin’s work and the generalizations derived from his observations that led to key points in the evolutionary theory, “Well, | understand all that, but what do these words natural selection mean?” The words encapsulat- ing the concept did not connect the idea for this student, and so we were able to dissect the meaning of the words and to tie together the concept with the triggering title.] Liberating science from classroom confines. Many students have never been to a public science facility. As part of the course requirement, students are to visit a science center, museum, laboratory, research center, marine world, arboretum, zoological garden, or aquarium. The choices are almost endless. In addi- tion, they are to write a short report describing the purpose of che center and their impressions. This has been a revelatory experience to many students. Little did they believe that they would enjoy these outreach activities identified with science. Newspapers and other media as part of the text. News diaries, in which each student collates three science new’s items weekly for 10 weeks, are required. Each student summarizes in one page the three news articles that made the greatest impression. Scientifi- cally literate students are expected to comprehend and comment on science news stories. Using TV schedules, students select to watch either one-hour or two half-hours of a current science program. Two- THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD) Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educatic-al Administration College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348. tustin, Texas 78712