Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities — also known as SENCER, for short — announced its featured models for 2004, including Wagner’s “Sustainability and Human Health: A Learning Community.” The learning community is taught by Donald Stearns in the biology department and Kim Worthy in English.
SENCER is a program run by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and is funded by the National Science Foundation. The program connects science and civic engagement by “teaching ‘through’ complex, capacious and unsolved public issues, such as natural catastrophes, water quality, HIV disease, the Human Genome Project, energy alternatives, and nuclear disarmament.
SENCER is a strategic initiative to promote and sustain large-scale, institutionalized science education reform. With continued support from the National Science Foundation, AAC&U is engaging in “a comprehensive national program to improve science education within the context of improved general education and in support of an engaged academy,” according to AAC&U.
“This is a tremendous validation of the kinds of academic programming in which our faculty and students are engaging,” commented Dr. Devorah Lieberman, provost of Wagner College.
Examine a package of course materials for “Sustainability and Human Health: A Learning Community,” including an abstract and course syllabus, that are posted on the SENCER website.
