The SENCER Model Series
About the Models
The SENCER models are curricular approaches to improving science learning and supporting engagement with complex issues. Through the "lens" of a matter or set of matters of public consequence, a SENCER model course or program teaches science that is both challenging and rigorous. The SENCER approach requires students to engage in serious scientific reasoning, inquiry, observation, and measurement. SENCER courses and programs connect scientific knowledge to public decision-making, policy development, and the effective "work" of citizenship. SENCER approaches encourage students to engage in research, to produce knowledge, to develop answers, as well as to appreciate the uncertainty and provisionality of the knowledge and answers produced.
SENCER models have clear learning outcomes. They seek transparency in their connection of classroom and related activities and the learning that is desired. Outcomes are assessed continuously. SENCER models reflect the intellectual curiosity of the faculty who developed them. At the same time, they respond to student interests, including personal interests, as well as public or civic ones.
The models are presented heuristically, that is as aids to understanding and inspirations for what is achievable. They are not offered as cookbooks or recipes to be copied and implemented as is. SENCER models are chosen because they demonstrate success, showcase effective strategies, and evidence potential for broader implementation and adaptation. The models also advance institutional aspirations to connect learning and other goals, such as fostering interdisciplinary understanding, increasing civic engagement and personal responsibility, and helping students develop more refined ethical sensibilities leading to improved personal choices and behavior.
We welcome your review, use, and appraisal of the SENCER models.
Dr. Eliza Jane Reilly
General Editor, SENCER Model Series
The SENCER Models
Please see below for a list of the SENCER Models, organized chronologically based on their year of addition to the series.
To search models by assessment method, learning strategy, civic issue, or discipline, please visit the SENCER Digital Library.
2012
Science Outreach - Public Understanding of Science
2011
Living Systems: Global Concepts, Living Connections
2010
Assessing Exposure to Toxic Chemicals: General Chemistry Applied to Human and Environmental Health
2009
Undergraduate Biochemistry Through Public Health Issues
Cellular and Molecular Biology: Cancer
2008
AIDS Research: Global Understanding and Engagement
Introductory Statistics with Community-Based Projects
Life Science in Context: Sub-Saharan Africa and HIV/AIDS
Ordinary Differential Equations: Mathematics in Real World Situations
Pregnancy Outcomes in American Women
2007
Science on the Connecticut Coast: Investigations of an Urbanized Shoreline
2006
Addiction: Biology, Psychology, and Society
Issues of Health & Society: Weighing In (Obesity)
Quantitative Literacy Through Community-Based Group Projects
2005
2004
Chemistry and Ethnicity: Uranium and American Indians
Chemistry and Policy: A Course Intersection
Coal in the Heart of Appalachian Life
Forensic Investigation: Seeking Justice through Science
The Mathematics of Communication: Keeping Secrets
Sustainability and Human Health: A Learning Community
2003
2002
Geology and the Development of Modern Africa
2001
Science, Society, and Global Catastrophes
More Information
Submission Guidelines
We encourage and solicit nominations of courses that fulfill the SENCER criteria for Models. If you believe your course or program exemplifies the SENCER Ideals, please submit the following information electronically to Eliza Reilly:
1. Faculty name(s), titles, and contact information
2. Title of Course and course Web site (if available).
3. Syllabus
4. Brief description of the course that includes the science topics covered and the civic or policy issues they are linked to, the course's learning objectives (for both science and non-science elements), the role of the course in your institution's undergraduate curriculum (major/non-major course, meets general education requirements, part of undergraduate core, etc), the internal or external funding, or other support, received for this course.
Note: We continue to accept nominations on a rolling basis and will contact you directly concerning the dissemination of Models.
Leadership
Dr. Eliza Jane Reilly
General Editor, SENCER Model Series
Franklin & Marshall College
eliza.reilly@fandm.edu