Team:UT-Dallas/HP

the Humanities

Sociology

Richard Scotch is a Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, and Political Economy at the University of Texas at Dallas. His most recent research focuses on healthcare access and disabilities. Amongst other appointments, he has served as a consultant for the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, as well as a Congressional Science Fellow.
We began our quest by asking why healthcare quality and access to technology did not reflect the rate at which new discoveries were being made. Why are the benefits of science and engineering distributed inequitably?
There is a certain degree of overlap between the groups that lack reliable healthcare access and those that traditionally have a lesser representation in science. In particular, certain racial minorities, women, and disabled persons tend to be amongst those most often shunned by the healthcare and educational systems. We asked Dr. Richard Scotch if, in solving one of these problems, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone.
While a great deal of the problem lies in the complicated realm of insurance law and broader economic problems, one of the many contributing factors lies in a communicative disconnect between science and minorities. This gap may exist for many different reasons—socioeconomic standing, cultural belief, and educational background, to name a few. Changing the way we teach science might improve the situation—in an increasingly diverse environment, it is important for teachers to make science applicable to a broader set of students. One of the ways to do this is to teach in a way that centers around the student, rather than a teacher lecturing at the front of a classroom. Encouraging class discussions and question-answer sessions is a tactic that has worked well for the humanities.
However, Scotch says, part of the problem comes from the scientific community. There seems to be a common belief within the scientific community that it is not very important for scientists and engineers to be able to communicate effectively outside of the professional environment. This is simply not true. Part of the solution, he says, may be as simple as having an open dialogue with your neighbors or colleagues. If scientists and engineers can, on even a personal level, maintain an open dialogue with people in other fields, science will inevitably become a larger part of everyday life. This is one of the many goals of this project.

Political Science

Dr. Douglas Dow is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as the codirector of the Honors College. He specializes in political theory, public law, legal theory and history, and American politics.

Policy does not always reflect the current body of scientific knowledge. Part of the problem arises from the fact that the information that the scientific community brings to the table does not always align with the goals of policy makers and economists. ‘The state of North Carolina, for example, had recently elected to simply disallow the use of current and projected sea level data in political cost benefit analysis [regarding development of the coast],’ says Dr. Douglas Dow, a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Dallas, ‘This would clearly create some conflicts.’

Nevertheless, scientists are far from mute in political sphere. ‘Scientists actually have a major place… in the public policy making process,’ says Dow. Policy makers frequently rely upon science to inform their policy decisions. Selective acceptance of scientific theory, however, seems to be a significant cause of the gap between policy and science—suggesting some sort of broader incompatibility between the two fields. Part of problem, Dow explained, is due to certain fundamental differences in the way that the humanities and the sciences are taught to communicate information. ‘Science is about probability,’ he says, ‘it’s not about an absolute yes or no. That makes for hypotheses that can sometimes be complicated to understand.’ These complicated topics, coupled with a lack of absolute certainty, can be easily manipulated and over simplified—often, just by accident.
It is not enough to simply teach science with the goal of graduating more STEM specialists. The rift between policy and science at hand calls for a more complete integration of science and the humanities, combining the best facets of each academic tradition. To better understand how we might accomplish this, we turned next to Master Teacher and science educator Dr. James McConnell.

Science And Engineering

Target Group

We chose to work primarily with low income, high risk students in Northeast Dallas through local non-profit Dallas Community Lighthouse. Across DFW, the DCL hosts a community based after school and summer program series called KidsU.

Curriculum Design Goals

We had several main goals in mind in developing our curriculum. We wanted to give the students a chance to explore cutting edge topics that are rarely taught at even the best schools. By teaching what we loved and knew best—bioengineering and biology— we hoped that we could pass on some of our passion.
Secondly, we wanted to create a lesson that could be easily reproduced without extensive knowledge or resources, so that teachers who may not spend all day in a lab could teach the same lesson with success.
Finally, we wanted the lesson to be applicable and engaging—to leave a lasting impact. We knew that each of the students would have a different level of proficiency and interest in the topics we wanted to teach. Often, in poorer school districts, there is a great deal more socioeconomic, ideological and cultural diversity amongst student backgrounds. A standardized, one-size-fits-all curriculum can often leave these students behind.

Curriculum

Though we had a list of concepts we expected each student to understand, we left much of our lesson open to the students to determine. We taught hands-on, lab based lessons and made sure to allot a large fraction of the class time towards encouraging discussion and answering questions. According to Master Teacher Jim McConnell, it can make all the difference if teachers are able to relate a concept to a student’s everyday life. This can be especially true for at-risk schools. You can view and download a sample lesson plan here.