TEACHING SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN A GEOLOGICALLY THEMED LEARNING COMMUNITY

In 2001 Everett Community College instituted a Learning Communities Program. Since then, Steve Grupp (Geology Instructor) and Gary Newlin (English Instructor) have developed and taught four different themed learning communities that combine geology or oceanography with English composition. Three of those learning community courses comprise a three-quarter sequence that allows students to take one, two, or all three courses. The instructors have offered that sequence for over 10 years.

Grupp and Newlin recently developed a new themed learning community course called Living with Mayhem: A Citizen’s Guide to Natural Disasters. This course explores what science teaches about natural disasters—such as volcanoes, landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and wildfires—and how that knowledge can be used by governments, communities, and individuals to prepare for, minimize, and respond to these catastrophic events. The learning community emphasizes the importance of using scientific knowledge in establishing public policy and requires students to research a natural disaster and to recommend policies to address that event’s potential impact on humans. The conference presentation will discuss Living with Mayhem, and will explain the series of integrated assignments, projects, labs, field trips, and speakers that are used to pursue the course theme. The presentation will also discuss the value in teaching scientific literacy and communication skills to first and second year college students within the context of a themed learning community.