Course

Using NSF funds, the CNSI, in collaboration with researchers at the CNS, are starting a program this fall that will give graduate students the opportunity to design and teach new modular courses that integrate "real" science and engineering within a societal context: history, economics, politics, etc. The program is called "INSCITES": INsights on SCIence and TEchnology for Society. The proposed title of the course for the first year is "Understanding Today's Technology."

The course will include important mathematical and conceptual building blocks of understanding, and hands-on involvement through illustrative labs. The societal context would bring scientific invention out of the lab and into common usage, examining how science and technology transforms people's lives and visa versa.

The class will be collaboratively designed, and is intended for lower division undergraduates, without any pre-requisites. Each year, a particular science or technology theme will be identified by those developing the course. In time, it is hoped that different modular themes will serve as the base for a "liberal arts of science and engineering".