Bridging the two cultures

TitleBridging the two cultures
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsEisen A, Laderman G
JournalJournal of College Science Teaching
Volume35
Pagination21-30
Keywordsbiology, Culture, Diversity Institute Literature Review, Interdisciplinary, Physics, Religion, Science, Undergraduate
SummaryThe authors of this article initiated a year-long program to integrate the teaching of science and the humanities. The project included a faculty seminar and an undergraduate course, both of which were constructed to build bridges across disciplines, reshape research, and teach critical thinking in the context of science. The goals were to teach nonscientists science in a richer context by integrating it with the humanities and to teach scientists the context of science to emphasize its real-world applications.
Extended SummaryThe article shows how an integrated educational approach was used to bridge the cultures of science and religion to enhance science education. The initiators of the project believed that the creation of a scientifically literate, critically thinking public is discouraged by the current university educational system. While science professors know little about the larger context of their work, humanities scholars, in turn, are rarely exposed to scientific perspectives on their discipline. University educators have previously approached this problem from three angles: broadening the context in major science courses, adding rigor to non-major courses, and developing science studies programs to analyze science sociologically. The authors of the article developed a new course linked to extracurricular activities that integrated all three strategies. They settled on a multilevel approach which brought together diverse students, scholars and community members to rethink the way people view science, learn, and teach.To plan the program, the authors held discussions with faculty from the medical, theology, and public health schools and from the psychology, biology, physics, history, religion and philosophy departments. Since a great deal of expertise in science and religion is related to health and healing, the faculty decided to focus on this area, and developed two public symposia. Next, the faculty built a formal, year-long program, including a faculty seminar, to test and develop ideas for the following undergraduate seminar and public forum. Finally, the faculty developed an undergraduate seminar called Mind, Medicine and Healing for upperclassmen. The seminar was cross-listed in biology, history and physics. The course’s aim was to change the way students viewed science and thought, learned, and taught. The course challenged the western notion of learning by encouraging participants to share how their own views affected their ideas of science. The course ended with a public symposium in which the students presented their work to faculty and to the public. The program inspired the creation of a new undergraduate minor in Science, Culture and Society.
RecommendationsScience and humanities teaching and thinking can and should be complementary to each other. This can be achieved through developing interdisciplinary courses at the university level that teach science in a more applied context. Faculty should cooperate across departments to combine scientific knowledge with applications. In this way, science majors can learn the broader context of their discipline and non-science majors can have a richer experience when learning science.