Penn State Intercom......March 28, 2002

Program to change
how faculty teach

By Julie A. Brink
Public Information

A roundtable of Agricultural Science professors watched a video on population growth. A counter ticked off the years as lighted dots popped up on the global map for every million souls born.

The presenter, Lyn Garling, education specialist in Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program, noted that people need to look at growth from many angles -- political, sociological and ecological, among others. "The issue is not only how many, but who are these people?" she said.

Her question sparked a discussion on perceptions, global citizenship, cultural shifts and critical thinking. "There's a lot of different ways to look at the dots," one participant mused. "The way the information was presented confuses and colors the message. How do we help students interpret that map?"

The discussion was part of the College of Agricultural Science's commitment to curriculum infusion, a process that changes the way faculty teach and present material to gain multicultural perspectives. The methods of infusing curriculum may include choice of textbooks, supplementary reading, case studies or learning activities.

Cathleen Love, associate vice provost for educational equality, who is in charge of the project, calls the process a "gentle nudging," a way to break the cycle of exclusion.

The pilot program in the College of Agricultural Sciences includes 15 professors, teaching a wide variety of topics ranging from poultry science to resource management, dedicated to the yearlong program. Each has chosen a course to "infuse." Their goals: Make the course content more inclusive and encourage interaction among student groups.

The College of Agricultural Sciences already offers freshman seminars in critical thinking and ethics that are threaded with multiculturalism, according to Barbara Wade, programs coordinator. Curriculum infusion was a logical next step, Love said.

The group in the college has made a commitment of time and resources, attending a total of five, three-hour roundtables and three days of retreats, armed with a syllabus to be revised. The 15 reworked courses, each with an accompanying bibliography of source material, will be introduced this fall. Two grants, totaling $28,000, from the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Office of Educational Equality, are funding the project.

Why go through the process? A majority of the faculty on campuses today were taught in homogenous environments, Love said. "We are taught a specific history, a limited literature" and today's curricula reflects that basis of knowledge.

"There are ways that we can teach that can be more inclusive," she said. "Just in the way we group students enhances the way they learn. We can expand perception, increase critical thinking. There can be more of a focus on what students have learned, not what did I teach."

The faculty working on the project "find themselves reading things differently, looking at the media differently," Love said. "We've been required in this country to show as normal the white European perspective. In this project we open up our students to a global look at context."

For example, Grace Wang, assistant professor in natural resource policy, has chosen to revamp an upper-level undergraduate class on natural resource policy that she's taught for four years.

"I've started implementing some of things from the meetings, introducing diverse viewpoints, not just ethnic viewpoints," she said. "For example on hunting, I give scientific information, as well as different people's perspectives -- animal rights activists, hunters, managers and biologists."

Guy Barbato, associate professor of poultry science, said he's very positive about the process.

"I prefer the goal of having an infused curriculum as opposed to saying, 'OK here's an hour, now you're going to learn all about diversity,'" he said. "It seems to me you communicate values on a day-to-day basis instead of just throwing it in."

For Barbato, the process has helped him find what resources are available to infuse his classes as well as the opportunity for positive, supportive dialogues with colleagues.

"Faculty spend a lot of time thinking about the details of what we teach, but not necessarily the manner in which we teach or how to convey the context of the information we teach," he said. "It's been very valuable to talk to people who think about these things."

Barbato is considering two courses for curriculum infusion: a freshman seminar and a course on genetics.

"There are literally thousands of vertebrate organisms and their genomes out there," he said. "Which ones do you choose for investigation and why do you choose them?"

The program already is seeing results. A professor told Love he decided to retest a student who did not speak English as her native language after realizing she didn't understand the exam question terminology. As result of being exposed to curriculum infusion, the professor was more focused on measuring what the student had learned, not what he taught.

Love is optimistic about the outcome of the infusion project.

"Each of the 15 have chosen one course to infuse diversity," she said. "This spins off because you start examining what you do in all your courses."

"There's a whole side of me that believes no one wakes up in the morning and says 'how can I be a racist today?'" Love said. "We just have not taken the time to examine our thinking and behavior so that what we teach is inclusive of all our students. As faculty, we need to model the importance of being sensitive to all perspectives in our very diverse world."

Julie A. Brink can be reached at jab81@psu.edu.

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