Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
College of Ocean & Fishery Sciences, School of Fisheries
The University of Washington is creating a unique program in Freshwater Sciences for undergraduates. The program is coordinated among different units across campus, places a greater emphasis on hands-on research through increased laboratory and field opportunities for students, and offers new and modified courses that place greater emphasis on communication skills. Our goal is to develop a program that reflects national leadership in freshwater science and becomes a model for other institutions as called for in the Freshwater Imperative and the NRC Committee on Limnology. Both of these committees stressed the need for coordinated, multidisciplinary teaching programs in freshwater sciences and for programs with experimental learning focused on undergraduates. In addition, the project is adapted from the report of the ASLO challenges for limnology committee (Lewis, 1995) entitled Challenges for Limnology in the United States and Canada: an Assessment of the Discipline in the 1990's, which indicated that the current focus and course offerings in freshwater sciences in the United States are aimed primarily at graduate students. This project is adapting elements of the model graduate program into a curriculum suitable for undergraduate majors. Already this program is unifying existing courses across campus and increasing the visibility of freshwater science opportunities for undergraduates. Our program will enable us to adapt and implement reforms called for by several national reviews of undergraduate education which have stressed the need for increased laboratory and field experiences.
The program also is establishing a greater sense of community among undergraduates studying freshwater science, enabling them to identify relevant coursework and receive guidance earlier in their undergraduate careers, and producing "work-ready" graduates. Program graduates will have the ability to: identify critical aquatic resource issues, evaluate and separate fact from opinion, coordinate disparate viewpoints, explain issues and educate others, collect and analyze data, and write clearly and effectively.
| Contact: |
Robert J. Naiman
Professor, Fisheries naiman@u.washington.edu |
| Allocation: | $40,000 (with $100,000 additional support from NSF matching funds) |
| Date Funded: | October 1999 |
Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
