Our mission is to help facilitate the development of educated and enlightened citizens.
Scientific and quantitative reasoning are therefore fundamental to future success.
HOW DO WE FACILITATE STUDENT LEARNING AT JMU?
In our math and science general education courses, students learn about the following skills:
- Describe the methods of inquiry that lead to mathematical truth and scientific knowledge and be able to distinguish science from pseudoscience.
- Use theories and models as unifying principles that help us understand natural phenomena and make predictions.
- Recognize the interdependence of applied research, basic research, and technology, and how they affect society.
- Illustrate the interdependence between developments in science, social and ethical issues.
- Use graphical, symbolic, and numerical methods to analyze, organize, and interpret natural phenomena.
- Discriminate between association and causation, and identify the types of evidence used to establish causation.
- Formulate hypotheses, identify relevant variables, and design experiments to test hypotheses.
- Evaluate the credibility, use and misuse of scientific and mathematical information in scientific developments and public-policy issues.
How do we assess student learning?
After orientation, a group of several hundred first-year students are assigned to take the Natural World-9 (NW-9), a 66 item measure of scientific and quantitative reasoning, on Assessment Day. These students are then retested after they have completed 45-70 credit hours.
Here is an example of the kinds of questions asked on the NW-9
Goldstar Inc. claims that its SAT preparation course is superior to the course offered by Premiere Inc. A study conducted by Goldstar compared SAT scores from 500 students who took Goldstar's course and 500 students who took Premiere's course. Their study concluded that students who took Goldstar's course scored significantly higher than student who took the Premier course. Is Goldstar justified in its claim that its SAT preparation course is superior to Premiere's course?
- The evidence strongly supports the claim.
- The evidence contradicts the claim.
- The evidence is not sufficient to support or contradict this claim.
What are our plans for the future?
Scientific and quantitative reasoning skills are fundamental to the future success of students as they strive to become more educated and more enlightened citizens.
The results are favorable and suggest that many students are benefiting from their math and science general education coursework.
We plan to continue to monitor the progress of our students as they move into their academic major and as we continue to make changes to our curriculum.
We also plan to examine how these skills have continued to grow by the time students graduate from James Madison University.