Building the enlightened scientist
How important is science literacy in the twenty-first century, and how do we achieve it?
By Anna Fitzgerald '93
Science is too important to be left to the scientists," says professor of astronomy Tim Barker without a hint of irony, and he recalls a story about one of the atomic age's most colorful characters to illustrate his point.
Nobel Prize winner Dr. Richard Feynman, a Manhattan Project physicist as well known for his genius in quantum electro dynamics as his bongo-playing antics at Berkeley, was at the forefront of scientific advances in the atomic age at Los Alamos. Years after the end of World War II, he spoke about his great regret over the use of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.
"What I did immorally was not to consider why we were doing it," Feynman said in a 1981 interview. "Not a single thought came to my mind about why we were [working on the bomb]...I simply didn't think." Barker pauses, and adds wistfully, "I wish I could reach back across time and comfort him. I want to say to him, 'It's not your fault, you didn't know. You didn't have a Wheaton education.'"
Feynman's late realization of the human side of science helps remind Barker of his vital mission at Wheaton: to instill in every student - science majors and non-majors - an understanding of how science informs every discipline of study, and how every discipline of study informs science. Studying science at a liberal arts institution, he says, "gives scientists the perspective they need to do responsible science." Known universally as science literacy, this concept is foremost in shaping the future of science education at Wheaton.
The importance of science and mathematics literacy, no matter what your background or major, plays out on a smaller scale for all citizens. To digest the news of the day means to possess an understanding of topics such as biological warfare, alternative sources of energy, agriculture in the developing world and the impact of natural disasters on man-made structures. How can we be players in such a world without enough understanding of science and mathematics to form a reasoned view? At the same time, wide-reaching public policies increasingly hinge on scientific and technical issues. How thoroughly and thoughtfully those decisions are made will depend on whether policymakers and voters have gained adequate literacy in science. The need is obvious - meeting the scientific challenges facing our world requires a global population of literate (in all senses of the word) citizens.
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Tommy Ratliff puts it another way. "I see the purpose of a liberal arts education as providing students with a broad range of knowledge and intellectual skills to prepare them for whatever direction their lives may take. Science and mathematics are fundamental ways of knowing, and as such, are an integral part of a liberal arts education."
At Wheaton and other selective liberal arts colleges, bringing science education into sharp focus reaps rewards beneficial to the institution and to society. According to Project Kaleidoscope, a national alliance supporting undergraduate science, the nation's selective liberal arts colleges graduate majors in science and mathematics at a rate 1.6 times that of America's research universities and 2.3 times that of any other kind of American college or university, and these graduates go on to achieve doctorates in science or mathematics also at disproportionate rates. Studies also show that students interested in science often have higher academic profiles than other students, and while they may represent a smaller portion of the academic majors in a student body, (13 percent at Wheaton), mathematics and science students usually represent a much larger percentage of graduation honors and distinguished outside fellowships. At Wheaton, of the nine students in 2001 who received national or international fellowships, four were science majors, including Rhodes Scholar Miles Sweet '01.
"Our energetic faculty have developed a culture of including students directly in the adventure of science, and the results are palpable," Provost Susanne Woods says of Wheaton's scientific success, which includes projects such as regional vernal pool research, the discovery of an asteroid, conservation of Northeast terrapin turtle populations, and a study of Medieval medicines and their efficacy.
Underlying these impressive facts and figures is the science itself. Wheaton has long known the importance of science and its role in a liberal arts education, and has delivered success and innovation from the earliest days in Clara Pike's science lab in Mary Lyon Hall.
Take, for example, the college's new curricular goals of connections across disciplines. Crossing disciplines is nothing new in Wheaton's Science Center; individual departments have enhanced their coursework this way for years, from physics and music to nutrition and anthropology. But with a renewed curricular emphasis on multidisciplinary links, members of the science faculty have linked a whole new slate of ideas across disciplines. Students who want to deepen their understanding of the human body pair "Basic Anatomy and Physiology" with "Figure Drawing." They delve into the natural processes of aging and dying with a sociology course, "Aging in America," linked to a religion course, "Death and Dying." Those interested in the complexities of the global pharmaceutical industry join "Cells and Genes" with "Microeconomics" to gain a greater understanding of the economic implications of biomedical research. And others fascinated by secrets and spies take the mathematics course in "Cryptography" along with "United States Foreign Policy" and learn what information policymakers believe is necessary to keep secret and how to construct unbreakable codes to keep those secrets secure.
Innovation in Wheaton's science coursework goes well beyond multidisciplinary course connections. A commitment to experiential learning often takes students off campus and into the field in their coursework. "Ponds to Particles" is one such course, casting future teachers in the role of scientists investigating water quality and energy issues in southern New England. Extensive fieldwork and community service accompany a full schedule of class meetings in an intensive program to prepare future teachers to excel in teaching science.
"It's problem solving in 13 weeks," says Associate Professor of Psychobiology Kathy Morgan, one of the course architects and professors.
And student-faculty research collaborations at Wheaton continue to make leaps and bounds in the science of discovery. Students conduct research with faculty for credit by enrolling in independent research or senior honors theses, as Wheaton Research Partners, Wheaton Fellows, as Mars Summer Fellows, as work-study students and as unpaid volunteers. There is a long tradition of Wheaton students and faculty co-publishing in internationally recognized scientific journals and co-presenting at scientific conferences.
Wheaton is committed to growing and strengthening its programs in science and mathematics through facilities and program enhancement, expansion of faculty size and recruitment of students curious about science. A Wheaton education promotes the ideal that knowledge of science and mathematics is integral to the purposes of a well-educated individual, thoughtfully expressed in the Wheaton science faculty's mission statement:
"We encourage Wheaton students to appreciate the complexity, beauty and power of science and mathematics as ways of knowing; to understand the vital role of science and mathematics in today's global society; and to engage in the exciting and collaborative process of observation and experimentation by which humans strive to comprehend the natural world."
The greatest strength of the sciences at Wheaton may well be faculty passionate about teaching and who collaborate on developing pedagogical goals for the sciences as well as on scientific research. A close second is the success of the faculty in encouraging students to participate in the joys and challenges of scientific discovery through research.
But to continue this rapid expansion of ideas, the college acknowledges it must make a commitment to an expansion of space and programming to further encourage discovery. The need for an updated and expanded science building at Wheaton has been clear for almost two decades, as many programs have expanded beyond available space and state-of-the-art scientific equipment comes with particular space and environmental requirements. For example, when Professors Bob Morris (biology) and Geoff Collins (physics) won a $144,000 National Science Foundation grant to create the college's Imaging Center for Undergraduate Collaboration (ICUC), they had to take over an existing biology lab and find a way to make their computers, cameras and microscopes work in the existing space, which was designed in 1966. So far Morris and Collins report great success, but theirs is just one of many important scientific resources that would benefit from a space tailored to the program's needs. Planning a renovated building is an exercise in ambition tempered by compromise.
"In my mind, the components of a first-rate science education are threefold," says Ratliff, designated faculty liaison for the Science Center project and a member of the Science Center Planning Committee. "We have a top-notch faculty committed to innovative undergraduate education, and we have a supportive structure that encourages our faculty to try new approaches.... To continue with our current successes and improve on them, we need a modern and fiexible facility that supports curricular innovation, encourages a sense of community and stimulates serendipitous interactions among students and faculty."
From the start, members of the Science Center Planning Committee, with assistance from the architecture firm Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP), facilitated a collaboration among all faculty in mathematics and computer science, natural sciences and psychology to develop goals and program needs for the proposed Science Center renovation and expansion. The group agreed on four fundamental goals:
- The building should be attractive and interactive;
- It should showcase student/faculty research;
- It should promote connections across campus; and
- It should be responsible in use of space and resources.
Further discussions yielded a building too large for the project's budgetary goals, which remain fiuid as the project moves through its earliest planning stages. Continued, thoughtful compromise from all corners seeks an acceptable reduction without impacting core programs.
As plans develop, one significant addition to the Science Center will be the physical relocation of the Psychology Department from its home across the Dimple in Knapton. "It is one of the most signi ficant programmatic decisions to come out of this process," says Barker. "The study of the mind will be arguably the most important scientific field of this century; having psychology in the facility puts us right in the middle of this enterprise."
Associate Professor of Psychology Derek Price agrees. "Housing psychology with the physical sciences builds on the dramatic advances in the field, bringing together psychological research on minds, experiences and behavior in social ecologies with physical science research on brains, neurotransmitters and genes in physical ecologies," Price says. "A more broadly defined science center will encourage and enable that conceptual convergence at Wheaton."
And there are practical reasons to build a space for both psychology and natural science. They share common research methodologies, they have a statistical base in common with physical sciences and they intersect with the use of animals in research. The need for improved technology in psychology classroom and lab space is apparent, as it is for science and mathematics. "We've installed some smart classrooms in Knapton, but it is a 1912 building, and there is a limit to how smart they can be," observes Price with a smile. "I think we could call them pretty bright classrooms, but we'll function much better with smart ones built in a new facility."
An increased amount of space is a factor, too. "In the past 20 years we have tripled the number of psych majors and increased the faculty by a third," Price says. "While the science departments have generously shared lab space with us, we dramatically lag behind other like institutions in lab space for empirical research."
Psychology students coupled with science and mathematics students will bring increasing numbers of students through the doors, one of the goals of the new center as Wheaton's curriculum emphasizes science literacy. The plans for a new Science Center are not just to serve the existing number of science and mathematics majors, but to accommodate those to come.
"Our architectural firm (EYP) has evidence that modern, attractive science facilities will be appealing to prospective and current students, it will help retain and attract faculty and it will increase the enrollment in the sciences," Barker says. "If you build it, they will come."
It's clear that modern science buildings are critical to the liberal arts - they're also expensive. Science and studio art buildings alike are regulated by stringent requirements on ventilation systems, making them some of the most expensive buildings on college campuses. Wheaton president Ronald Crutcher begins his presidency poised to seek funding for this vital project, but many Wheaton supporters are already aware of the need, such as alumna Josie McFadden '61, who has a rich understanding of the importance of science education.
"As far back as I can remember, my interests have been in math and science. I took biology and as much math as I could at an all-girls high school. When I got to Wheaton I continued with math and added physics, physical chemistry and history of science," McFadden recalls.
As a Wheaton undergraduate, she worked on developing ultrasound experiments through a National Science Foundation grant. This year McFadden made a gift of nearly $1 million to endow equipment needs in the sciences.
"Science will always need financial support because it advances so quickly and equipment becomes obsolete so fast," she explains. "The liberal arts prepares you for life and citizenship, including decisions that are being made about important topics such as medical research and space exploration."
Provost Woods agrees wholeheartedly. "Science is a quintessential liberal art. It trains us to analyze and judge what we know based on carefully derived evidence, but most important, it is one of the primary ways we have of knowing the world."
Photos by Nicki Pardo, Len Rubenstein and Holger Thoss
