Bryn Mawr College and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Evolving Science Education:
A Progress Report and Prospectus, 2006

Notes for Discussion
23 October 2006
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Peter Brodfuehrer
Paul Grobstein

Available at http://serendipstudio.org/hhmi/hhmi2006.html

Beginning in 1988 ... General Themes

The Current Program




  • The word 'scientific' always intimidated me since I associated it with ... knowledge of terminology, and memorization of chemical elements. ... I believe that such narrow-minded approach comes from me growing up in a family and surroundings not at all affiliated with science in any way ... As I learned today, 'scientific' means of study of the physical and natural world based on the observation and experiment (moreover, this is the definition givenby Oxford dictionary). Thus, for example, if I, as a Theatre Design major, track back to the stone ages the development of the 'performance' doing research, it would be a 'scientific' approach to the matter. The bridging of such gap of stereotypes surprised me to a great extent and made me question the number of stereotypes that I bred in my head during my 22 years of existence ... Bio 103 On-Line Forum
  • Getting it less wrong will also give me the strength to try new tactics or lesson strategies, realizing that it is all a big experiment, and each "mistake" or "failure" I have is really a suceess on the road to getting it less wrong ... Summer Institute On-Line Forum
Assessment of Progress




The scale and complexity of today's biomedical research problems increasingly demands that scientists move beyond the confines of their own discipline and explore new organizational models for team science ... NIH Roadmap

Science has the potential to be what we all collectively need as we evolve into a world wide community: a nexus point that encourages and supports the evolution of shared human stories of exploration and growth, an evolution in which all human beings are involved and take pride. For this to happen, we all need to work much harder to not only reduce the perception of science as a specialized and isolated activity of the few but to make it in fact the product and property of all human beings ... Revisiting Science in Culture

Sample topics for wider shared engagement/conversation ...

  • Human health and well-being
  • Increased ability to influence genetic information
  • Evolution
  • Environmental management
  • Mental health

Further Directions







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