Princeton Science and Engineering Education Initiative: Creating Scientifically Literate Students Across the Campus

The Science and Engineering Education Initiative at Princeton University aims to inspire and prepare all undergraduates, irrespective of their majors, to become scientifically and technologically literate citizens and decision-makers. Launched by the faculty on the Council on Science and Technology in September 2011, the Initiative involves revising and creating science and engineering courses that emphasize the role of science in society. Teaching specialists that have experience as college faculty are leading the on-the-ground effort to find and transform courses, identify science skills that we want students to achieve at Princeton, and assess whether the courses help students achieve these skills. In this second year of the Initiative, our team has finalized student-centered learning goals for our targeted courses, administered a basic survey of students' attitudes towards science and engineering, and begun development of a rigorous assessment of skills gained. Course by course, we are also gradually applying research-based teaching methods to better align course activities with learning goals, and we are developing effective strategies for formative assessment of student abilities. The courses currently being transformed include “Future Physics,” “From DNA to Human Complexity,” and “Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Population, Land Use, Biodiversity, and Energy.”