The College of Science at Murray State University (MSU) made a significant commitment to science education beginning in the 1997 Spring semester with the piloting of SCIENCE 101. The College especially tailored this course to prepare preservice teachers to meet the more challenging demands of the science classroom of today and tomorrow. SCIENCE 101is now institutionalized as a regular course offering at MSU. It has been approved by the MSU Academic Council, and will be included in the regularly-published catalog of undergraduate courses. It is now a required course for incoming freshmen elementary education majors

However, SCIENCE 101 is not enough; its topics do not fully encompass the KERA Science Core Content. Although the course covers its intended content successfully, it is limited by the length of the semester. There are additional science topics of equal importance which also must be made accessible to preservice teachers. With SCIENCE 101 now firmly established, the time has come to build upon its success. This project focuses on the development of SCIENCE 102 based on the successful key design and delivery characteristics of SCIENCE 101. It is on these characteristics which the proposed SCIENCE 102 course will be built: consistency with the National Education Standards; inquiry-based science teaching; multidisciplinary; and theme-based.

Although similar in design to SCIENCE 101, this new course will have a different theme. The unifying theme of SCIENCE 102 will be Systems of Communication. The content will focus on the structure and function of the biological sensory and nervous systems and the physics of sound and electromagnetic radiation (radio, television, etc.) as different systems of communication. The two courses will also cover different science content areas; thus, neither will be a prerequisite of the other. By taking either course, an undergraduate student would gain hands-on experience with the inquiry process of science and would learn a substantial amount of content. This is sufficient for success in the senior level science methods practicum courses in the MSU College of Education. By taking both courses, a student would gain a well-rounded content background as well as extended experience in the scientific process.

Course development for SCIENCE 102 will occur in six phases: I. Course planning (summer 1998); II. Pilot course preparation. (fall 1998); III. Pilot course (fall 1999); IV. Course refinement (fall 1999); V. Regular offering (spring 1999); VI. Course institutionalization (ongoing).

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