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Faculty News
The Art Of Teaching Science
Michael Kerchner, associate professor of psychology, is involved in several national efforts to strengthen undergraduate science education, including Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, FUN, the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, and Project Kaleidoscope. These organizations recognize the value of partnerships and collaboration as catalysts for meaningful change.
Adam Goodheart, the Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, spoke before the Maryland House of Delegates in February, delivering a birthday tribute to College patron George Washington. Listen to Goodheart's remarks online.Michael Kerchner, associate professor of psychology, recently shared his insights about the role of higher education in bolstering our nation's achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields.
Kerchner, director of Washington College's behavioral neuroscience program and a member of Project Kaleidoscope's (PKAL) Faculty for the 21st Century, was part of a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) in January addressing the importance of an interdisciplinary (ID) approach to undergraduate science education. With generous support from the Keck Foundation, PKAL has launched a three-year initiative, involving 30 institutions of higher education that are developing innovative ID-STEM curricular models. Kerchner is one of three principle investigators on the initiative's leadership team. In July, Washington College will host the first of several summer institutes on facilitating interdisciplinary learning for project participants.
Asked to comment, Kerchner noted, "The greatest scientific achievements are, more often than not, ones that occur when science is engaged in examining complex phenomena at the intersection between traditional scientific disciplines. Yet this is not how most STEM curricula are structured. This initiative is applying what is known about how innovative science is done to how science is taught."
More information on PKAL and the ID initiative can be found at www.pkal.org
To Russia With Future Expectations
Clayton Black, associate professor of history, is taking 14 people, primarily Washington College students, to Russia for ten days in May. The group will tour St. Petersburg, and then travel 850 miles by train to Moscow.
The 10-day itinerary has large blocks of free time, with a list of additional sights and things to do depending on the level of adventure the student wishes to undertake.
This trip is not for academic credit, Black says, but is intended to stimulate student interest in a country that has lost its Cold War prominence since the fall of communism. The new Russia, open to all possibilities to secure a stable economy, is more complex and multi-faceted than former president Ronald Reagan's simplistic "Evil Empire" of decades gone by.
Black, who speaks Russian with near native fluency, realizes the language barrier will be a challenge. He is planning a language exchange in St. Petersburg, where Russian students will practice their English with Washington College students, who might pick up a few words of Russian in the process. This may also help students adjust to Russian interactions with foreigners, which can be viewed as cold, suspicious and unfriendly.
Though it is arduous translating for a group and worrisome to demand students be at a certain place at a designated time, Black is undaunted and is happy to be taking the tour to two Russian cities he has lived in. His goal is to generate interest and garner the support needed for courses in Russian and Slavic studies. Perhaps then, he says, future journeys to Russia could be offered for academic credit.