Marquee Science & Technology Courses A successful example of cross-disciplinary course development

1. Marquee Science & Technology Courses A successful example of cross-disciplinary course development Jordan Goodman Department of Physics University of Maryland November 2009

2. National need for an understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) • Cannot be addressed only by educating future scientists • The problem is deeper, more systemic, and solutions must extend to improved education for non-science majors. • Non-scientists are called on to make decisions based on science

3. Discussion in the early spring of 07 • UG Dean Donna Hamilton, Jim Gates, and JG • Donna was concerned that many of our best students on campus never took science • Many would “AP” out of science when they came in • Many would be in majors like Business where more science wouldn’t be required • Donna organized a group (~15) of interested people who meet in the spring of 07

4. Call for Proposals from Undergraduate Studies: Signature program that: • Engages senior faculty • Creatively addresses the challenge • “Teach” the process of science • Elucidate how science addresses world problems • Satisfies General Education (CORE) expectations • Has departmental and college support • Deans picked from proposals Engages 100+ students

5. How does science attack problems to which the answer is not known • Most (virtually all) science courses we teach are about subjects that the answers are known • Controversy is only presented historically and often parenthetically • Conclusions are offered as if any reasonable person would have figure it out themselves • Even subjects like relativity

6. Summer 2007 – full day workshop Fall 2007-Present The Faculty became a Learning Community • Met regularly over lunch • Reviewed and discussed best practices • Shared ideas for engaging students in process of science • Agreed upon common attributes of courses • Developed learning goals and assessment measures • Met with advisors to foster full course enrollment

7. The Marquee Faculty Research-Active Tenured FacultyInterdisciplinary (3 colleges and 6 disciplines)

8. Marquee Course Learning Goals At the completion of a Marquee Course in Science and Technology students will be able to: • Look at complex questions and identify the science in the question and how it impacts and is impacted by political, social, economic, and ethical dimensions • Understand the limits of scientific knowledge • Critically evaluate science arguments • Ask good questions • Find information using various sources and evaluate the veracity of the information • Communicate scientific ideas effectively • Relate science to a personal situation

9. At the completion of a Marquee Course in Science and Technology students will be able to: • Look at complex questions (e.g. global warming, medical technology, biodiversity) and identify the science in the question and how it impacts and is impacted by political, social, economic, and ethical dimensions • Critically evaluate science arguments (e.g. those that are made in a news article, a student presentation, on a TV show, presented to a lay person by a physician etc) Marquee Course Assessment

10. Assessment • VOSTS - Views on Science, Technology and Society • http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=r1lGbjCzTmW1FNtZW172gQ_3d_3d

11. 2. Scientists and engineers should be the ones to decide what types of energy we will use in the future (for example, nuclear, hydro, solar, or coal burning) because scientists and engineers are the people who know the facts best. What is your position, basically? Scientists and engineers should decide: • because they have the training and facts which give them a better understanding of the issue. • because they have the knowledge and can make better decisions than government bureaucrats or private companies, both of whom have vested interests. • because they have the training and facts which give them a better understanding; BUT the public should be involved -- either informed or consulted. • The decision should be made equally; viewpoints of scientists and engineers, other specialists, and the informed public should all be considered in decisions which affect our society. • The government should decide because the issue is basically a political one; BUT scientists and engineers should give advice. • The public should decide because the decision affects everyone; BUT scientists and engineers should give advice. • The public should decide because the public serves as a check on the scientists and engineers. Scientists and engineers have idealistic and narrow views on the issue and thus pay little attention to consequences.

13. First CORE courses offered by College of Engineering !

14. Courses Piloted 2007-2008 Met first year enrollment goals Attracted non-majors *Other – category includes students from 7 colleges

15. Updated Enrollment Data

16. PHYS 105Physics for Decision Makers:The Global Energy Crisis • Steve Rolston • Jordan Goodman • Bill Dorland • Dan Lathrop • Department of Physics

17. PHYS 105Physics for Decision Makers:The Global Energy Crisis • This topic could change: • Energy • Transportation • Materials • Space

18. Learn physics of energy in the context of the global energy crisis and the real world • Physics • Biology • Economics • Politics Energy concepts Population and growth Fossil Fuels Global warming Energy sources Possible outcomes/solutions

19. We ran pilot as honors course • We taught the prototype as an honors course (Fall 07) • Our group met weekly to discuss course • We wanted to learn what the best students could do in a small setting before trying it on a large class • I taught the 60 student version (non-honors) in Spring 08 • We expanded it to 110 in Fall 08 • Added a new colleague (Lathrop) in 2009

20. Course structured with two 75 min. lectures and one 50 min. group (20 student) sections • Extended group projects (4-5 students) • Expose students to technology • Small group activities rather than traditional “recitation” sections

21. Assigned seating in lecture according to discussion group • Think, pair, share works only if they are willing to talk to each other • Moved Honors students

22. TA involvement and buy-in is essential • This is a different kind of TA assignment • First time I had two good TAs • One got it • The other… • This time hand selected TAs • This was an excellent way for them to learn • We are working on creating a Marquee TA program

23. Example from student project - McKeldin Library

24. McKeldin Library Average daytime energy use: 200-250 KWH Average nighttime energy use: 150-200 KWH

25. Example discussion section activity Carbon Reduction Treaty Your challenge is to negotiate a treaty to reduce global carbon emissions by 50% by the year 2030. To simplify, we divide the world (and your class) into two groups, developed countries (represented by the US) and developing countries (represented by China). You should consider each other’s needs and consequences to quality of life as you negotiate (remember that negotiation is the art of compromise). Listed below are various facts about each country to help you in formulating your arguments. Of the 50% reduction, how much should come from the US and how much from China? Do the Chinese have the “right” to use as much energy per person as we do in the US?

26. Keep it current • Homework included investigating reading George Will article in the Washington Post and letters that followed (Nov 09) • Visit campus Co-generation plant • Honors section will do congressional visits • Discussion of current events • Science • Politics • Read & Discuss the IPCC report • Guest speakers • Campus Conservation Manager • House Science Committee Staffer • Science Journalist

27. Sample lecture topic

28. Daytime Running Lights – DRLsAre they worth the energy they consume?

29. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How do we figure it out? • Estimate how much power 1 pair uses • Then figure out how many cars there are • Estimate how many hours DRLs would be on per car • Put it together and get the energy usage • Compare this to their benefits

30. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • A typical pair headlights uses about 110 watts • Daytime running lights run at a lower wattage so they use less power. • Estimate how much wattage a pair of DRLs uses • 10 Watts • 30 Watts • 50 Watts • 70 Watts

31. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How many cars are there in the US? • First we should ask: • How many people are there in the US? • 100 Million • 300 Million • 500 Million • 700 Million • 1 Billion

32. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How many cars are there in the US? • 300 Million People (adults and children) • How many families? • 50 Million • 75 Million • 100 Million • 150 Million • 200 Million

33. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How many cars are there in the US? • (100 Million families) • How many cars/family? • 0.5 • 1 • 1.5 • 2 • 2.5

34. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How many cars are there in the US? – 200 Million • How far does the average car go per year? • 8,000 miles • 12,000 miles • 16,000 miles • 20,000 miles

35. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How many cars are there in the US? – 200 Million • How far does a car go per year? – 12,000 miles • Vehicles in the US drove 2.5 trillion miles 2.5 x 1012 mi • To figure out how many hours car lights are on time= distance/<speed> • How fast does a car go on the average? (highway and city stop and go) • 20 MPH • 30 MPH • 40 MPH • 50 MPH • 60 MPH

36. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • How long are they on for? • Vehicles in the US drove 2.5 trillion miles 2.5 x 1012 miles • (100 million families – 2 cars/fam. 12k miles/car) • Assume average speed say 30 mph • 2.5 x 1012 miles/ 30 mph = 8 x 1010 (80 billion) hours of driving • At 50 Watts – 4 x 1012Whrs - 4 x 109 kWh (4 Billion kWh), but they we must subtract the time the headlights would be on…

37. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • What fraction of the driving is at night when the headlights would be on anyway? • 5% • 15% • 25% • 35% • 45%

38. Energy Usage by Daytime Running Lights • Say you drive normally 25% of the time at night where the lights would be on anyway -> 0.75 x 4 x 109 kWh • So we use 3 x 109 kWh extra electrical power in our cars • A gallon of gas contains about 130 MJ/gal or 36 kWh/gal • The car engine is about 30% efficient so we get 10kWh/gal • 3 x 109 kWh extra electrical power means 3 x 108 (300 million) gallons of gas/yr on DRLs • At $2.50 a gallon - $750M year and 5 Billion pounds of CO2 • Realistically its probably less that as most DRLs use less power

39. Are they worth it?

40. Benefit of Daytime Running Lights • Studies show anywhere from 7%-18% reduction in daytime accidents from use of DRLs (mostly head-on left-turns) • 6,420,000 auto accidents in the United States in 2005. The financial cost of these crashes is more than $230 Billion • If there is a only a 5% reduction in crashes because of DRLs then you save ~$10 Billion per year • 30,000 fatalities each year – 5% saves 1,500 lives (at $5M each -> $7.5B)

44. Students were asked: • Why the trend? • “The economy has displaced global warming from the news” • “It’s the scientists fault for not being definitive enough” • Why, since this is a scientific question, do the responses break down on party lines? • Dems want green industries • Republicans want to protect big business • They get their news from different sources

45. “balance” in news reporting – Curt Suplee “No, it’s not!” “Yes it is”

46. One nut = biased coverage

47. 2 nuts = balanced coverage

48. 2 nuts = balanced coverage that ignores the consensus “We found that … through adherence to the norm of balance, the U.S. press systematically proliferated an informational bias.” -- Fairness and Accuracy in Media, 2002 report

49. Final Exam (typical question) • One gallon of gasoline today costs ~$2.50 &contains 1.3 x 108 J (130MJ) of energy – • Compute the cost of the equivalent amount of electrical energy (at $0.10/kWh from Pepco). • J=1 Watt Sec Hour=3600 sec so 1kWh = 3.6MJ 130MJ/3.6(MJ/kWh) =  36 kWh @ $0.10 = $3.60 • Approximately how much would the gasoline cost @$2.50/gal to generate 130MJ of electrical energy using a gasoline-powered generator that uses an internal combustion engine (like a Honda generator). • ~25% efficient so 4 gallons - so ~$10

50. Hamburger meat has about 1,300kcal/pound and costs about $3/pound. How much would it cost to get the equivalent energy to 1 gallon of gasoline from hamburger meat? • 1 kcal = 4184 joules  130MJ = 31,000 kcal /(1,300kcal/lbs) = 24 lbs -> $72 • There are about 8MJ in a pound of refined sugar and it costs $2 for a five-pound bag. How much would it cost to get the equivalent energy to 1 gallon of gasoline from refined sugar? • 130/8 = 16 lbs so 3.2 - 5 lb bags ->$6.40