Civic Responsibility in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education

Posted by on April 7, 2006

Civic Responsibility in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education

A Three Day Institute in Portland, Maine
May 22-24, 2006
Sponsored by the Campus Compacts in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and Learn and Serve America

Please join us in beautiful Portland, Maine for three days of intense reading, discussion, practice, and planning. Sessions will take place at the new Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the University of Southern Maine, and at Rippleffect?s Cow Island in Casco Bay. Registration has been extended to April 21, 2006.

For a complete brochure, go to: http://www.mainecompact.org and click on the link to the Institute?s brochure on the front page.

This three-day Institute will provide an opportunity for science, technology, engineering and mathematics faculty to explore the complex ways their disciplines and citizenship bear upon each other. What do citizens need in order to understand and evaluate scientific and quantitative arguments? What is the responsibility of scientists, engineers and mathematicians for the potential and actual applications of the knowledge they create? And what is our responsibility as educators to raise these issues in our classes?

In recent years, service-learning and other community based approaches have significantly changed the way many faculty members conceive their work. Breaking down old barriers between ?town and gown? have compelled faculty in many different disciplines to think about what they do (research, teaching, and service) in relation to the public, society, and democracy.

During the Institute, participants will be provided with relevant texts, models, and practices which they will analyze and discuss together. These experiences will culminate in a community-based collaboration and will prepare faculty to develop their own strategies for connecting theory to practice and the classroom to the larger community.