Early in the fall term, most first-year science students attend lectures and labs, read textbooks, and study for quizzes. In one unique program at McMaster, they plan a mission to Mars. Working in groups, students use physics and math to plan the route, chemistry to determine what fuel to use, life sciences to look at the impact of space travel on the human body and search for new forms of life, earth sciences to examine potential landing sites and psychology to counter the effects of isolation. Ultimately, the groups pitch their mission proposals to a panel of faculty members. Mission to Mars is the first project in the University’s Integrated Science program, known as iSci. Other first year projects include Drugs, Diffusion and Biodistribution, which explores the impact of drugs on the body and in the environment, Sustainable Energy, which delves into the best sustainable sources for different geographies, and Finding a Cure for Cancer. “Instead of going by the textbook, this way of learning really forces us to think about the subject,” says second-year iSci student Prateek Gupta. “It’s about taking an issue and applying whatever science perspective best fits the subject. It’s totally open-ended.” And that, when you think about it, is a lot like science itself. Carolyn Eyles, a professor of earth sciences, has been involved with iSci from the beginning and is now program director. “We want students to think and find
out for themselves. We challenge them to develop their skills of inquiry – to ask questions, find information, analyze it and communicate it.” iSci was launched in 2009 and now has two classes of 40 students, one each in first and second year. Eventually there will be 60 students in each of four years. The program was developed over a four-year period at the urging of science dean John Capone’83. Capone is an advocate of the multi-disciplinary, problem-based learning approach pioneered within health sciences at Mac. He was inter-
“Instead of going by the textbook, this way of learning really forces us to think about the subject,” ested in trying a similar silo-busting approach in science. He pulled together a committee made up of interested faculty members from every discipline, staff and students. Says Eyles: “John saw it as a way to create the kind of scientists who would understand and respect the linkages between the sciences, and could use them to address some of the big problems facing society.” The program takes a modular, theme-based approach to curriculum, and uses a self-directed, inquiry mode of learning. In first year
students complete four major projects, working in groups to do research and communicate their findings. “Instead of going to the biology department to learn biology and the math department to learn math, our students are learning all the different science disciplines through their own research into a project,” says Eyles. The small size of the program allows faculty to develop close relationships with students and support them as they learn scientific principles and processes. In second year, the program focuses on key thematic areas such as ecology, thermodynamics, neuroscience, quantum mechanics, the history of the earth, and biochemistry. The students are given more scope to direct their own research, but continue to work in groups and present their findings. They also take electives and have the option of focusing in a specific discipline, essentially completing a double major. There’s no such thing as a typical day in iSci. The learning experience can take the form of a presentation by faculty or guest speakers, a field trip or lab, or a group work session. The program has its own home on the third floor of the Thode Library – a classroom where students sit in groups of four around high-tech workstations, a study space designed to foster group interaction, and faculty offices. The members of the faculty team for iSci are carefully selected for their interest in pedagogy and comfort with working across
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SCIENCE MASH-UP
Something interesting is happening on the third floor of the Thode Library and it has the potential to change the way science is taught everywhere.