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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] SENCERizing a Biology General Education | Jorge A. Santiago-Blay | leb-31santiago-blay-et-al-pp-33-56-sencerizing.pdf
  • Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2015 02:04:43 -0400

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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33
SENCERizing a Biology General Education (Gen-Ed) Course1
Jorge A. Santiago-Blay2, Suzanne C. Shaffer3 , and Barbara Eshbach
4
“It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing
to do with knowledge, and
everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and
essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we
have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: "This
is water."” (Wallace 2005)
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/DFWKenyonAddress2005.pdf,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
This paper is wholeheartedly dedicated to the thirteen undergraduates who
enriched our lives during
the summer and fall of 2014 by demonstrating how far education can go
when,
in spite of limitations, there are motivation and inspiration!
Abstract: We describe an effort to teach non-science majors’ general
education courses using the SENCER paradigm, namely, to “strengthen
student learning and interest in the sciences, technology, engineering,
and mathematics by connecting course topics to issues of critical local,
national, and global importance.”
Key Words: General Education courses, course redesign, STEM, sciences,
technology, engineering, and mathematics, SENCER, life-long learning,
complex problems, pragmatism, STEM education, higher education,
civic engagement, cultural cognition, curriculum, education,
communication, imagination, multidisciplinarity, high-impact educational
practices
Introduction: To Raise Awareness
Several years ago, we listened to a recording of a 2005
commencement speech given by the late David Foster Wallace at
Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio, USA). The words, quoted above, spoken
towards the end of the speech, summarize our motivation to redesign
courses for college-level, non-science majors: to raise awareness about
important societal issues and to build science literacy in non-science
majors. We, and most of our readers, are familiar with the challenging
facets of a college-level education. Some of those include student
under-preparedness for college-level work and, more fundamentally, a
general lack of engagement which we believe partly begins with a
diminished sense of curiosity and motivation (hooks 1994, Deci 1996).
However, in spite of those hurdles, we try to begin each term
with renewed hope and vigor, to accomplish two goals: 1) to
awaken students’ interest in scientific issues that

1
Submitted on March 19, 2015. Accepted on March 31, 2005. Final revisions
received on April 15, 2015.
2
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History,
Washington, District of
Columbia 20560 USA. E -mail: blayj@si.edu
3
Instructional Designer, The Pennsylvania State University. 1031
Edgecomb Avenue, York,
Pennsylvania, USA 17403. E -mail: scs15@psu.edu
4
Head Librarian, The Pennsylvania State University. 1031 Edgecomb Avenue,
York, Pennsylvania,
USA 17403. E -mail: bee11@psu.edu
DOI: 10.9784/LEB3(1)Santiago-Blay.02
Electronically available on April 18, 2015. Mailed on April 18, 2015.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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impact their everyday lives and, ultimately, 2) to prepare an educated
citizenry with the ability to think ethically and critically.
In this paper, we describe our efforts to achieve these goals
through the redesign of general education (herein abbreviated
gen-ed) courses in biology using the SENCER (Science Education
for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) model. Herein, we:
1) characterize a SENCER course, 2) provide the local context for our
course redesign, 3) explain the course redesign process, and 4) describe
the next steps for and concerns about our voyage. Our ultimate goal is to
more fully engage students in real-world scientific endeavors and awaken
in them an interest in civic responsibility. We hope that this high-
impact practice will be expanded to include other science gen-ed
courses and more faculty members.
1. What makes a course a SENCER Course?
SENCER began in 2001 under the National Science Foundation’s Course,
Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) funding track.
SENCER’s mission states: “SENCER courses and programs strengthen student
learning and interest in the sciences, technology, engineering, and
mathematics by connecting course topics to issues of critical
local, national, and global importance” (SENCER.net).
A SENCER Course Embodies the SENCER Ideals
Over time, SENCER practitioners have developed a set of
underlying principles that they use to guide their practice.
Rather than re-write what has already been expertly and concisely
articulated, we place them here in their entirety. SENCER approaches
to education:
 Robustly connect science and civic engagement by teaching
“through” complex, contested, capacious, current, and unresolved
public issues “to” basic science.
 Invite students to put scientific knowledge and the scientific
method to immediate use on matters of immediate interest to students.
 Help reveal the limits of science by identifying the elements of public
issues where science does not offer a clear resolution.
 Show the power of science by identifying the dimensions of a public issue
that can be better understood with certain mathematical and
scientific ways of knowing.
 Conceive the intellectual project as practical and engaged from the
start, as opposed to science education models that view the mind as a
kind of “storage shed” where abstract knowledge may be secreted for vague
potential uses.  Seek to extract from the immediate issues the larger,
common lessons about scientific processes and methods.

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 Locate the responsibilities (the burdens and the pleasures) of discovery
as the work of the student.
 Focus on contested issues, [and thereby] encourage student engagement
with “multidisciplinary trouble”5 and with civic questions that
require attention now. By doing so, SENCER hopes to help students
overcome both unfounded fears and unquestioning awe of science.
>From these ideals it is clear that the goals of SENCER are to build
students’ awareness of complex problems in society while at the same time
to give them tools (scientific method and other processes) to think
critically about problems and posit solutions. In sum, students’
awareness is increased through their engagement in solving complex
civic issues that require problem solving.
A SENCER Course has the Qualities Expressed in the SENCER Rubric
Given the SENCER Ideals, how does one bring them to life within
a course? The SENCER rubric is a good place to find concrete direction to
start the design process. Typically, a course design includes the
consideration of course objectives, activities, and assessments which
encompass a given range of content. Course design rubrics are often
thought of as a summative assessment tool - to be used to evaluate a
project at its conclusion. However, this rubric could also be
used in a “backwards design” approach at the beginning of a
redesign project where one considers the outcomes of instruction first, and
then plans backwards to develop activities that help students to reach
those outcomes (Wiggins and McTighe 2005). In this approach,
instructors could begin by asking, “What qualities should students
develop and what should they be able to do at the end of a SENCER course?”
The SENCER rubric helps instructors to answer this question first,
followed by considerations of activities, assessments, and instructional
approaches that help students to reach these outcomes. Redesign
becomes very rich and rewarding as instructors consider content goals,
SENCER Ideals, and learning outcomes in a holistic and iterative process
that incorporates elements in the SENCER rubric.
The SENCER rubric has the following ten main sections:
● Student and faculty collaboration in choosing a course’s main foci to
include
unsolved, complex, and important civic issues.
● Catalog of the civic issues to be addressed by the course “through which”
the
science content will be taught.

5
Interdisciplinarity refers to two or more different disciplines coming
together for a purpose, such as solving a problem. There are
different approaches to interdisciplinary problem-solving. The
multidisciplinary approach fosters the generation of tentative solutions by
experts within different fields. Thereafter, those individual
solutions are discussed by experts in different fields. The
transdisciplinary approach, in contrast, favors the meeting of the experts
in different fields first.

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● Content-based learning goals (think of this as the traditional
content of the
science course that is normally taught).
● Instructional strategies that create the place and space to address both
the civic
issues and STEM content (can include a focus on undergraduate research
and
preparing students for future civic engagement and responsibilities). ●
Opportunities for putting new knowledge into action.
● Assessment of the course, student learning outcomes, and
instructor for
continual improvement.
● Promotion of interdisciplinary learning.
● Explicit incorporation of 21st century skills.
● Sustainability of the course within the institution’s curriculum.
● Sharing the results of the redesign with the wider STEM
education
community.
How does one Prepare to Teach a SENCER Course?
SENCER conducts a Summer Institute at which faculty members new to the
process find out about the history of SENCER, meet the founders
and practitioners of SENCER, and spend five fruitful days at
workshops and presentations on many aspects of SENCER from design through
assessment. A unique aspect of the Summer Institute is the chance to meet
several times with a SENCER coach – a faculty member already using the
SENCER model who is a source of support in the development of each
new faculty member’s project. Networking opportunities and the regional
support system are also quite strong. Meetings with regional SENCER
groups and leaders help participants stay connected after the
Institute. Additional professional activities are held through the year at
different SENCER regions in the USA and sometimes abroad.
Why is SENCER important? Building an Educated Citizenry
We consider it relevant to discuss the importance of a SENCER approach in
the current political, social, and educational climate in the U.S. The
setting for our project is the York Campus of The Pennsylvania
State University, herein referred to as Penn State York, located in
York, Pennsylvania. In the context of U.S. history, York is important
because it was as one of the first capitals of what was to become the
United States of America. More recently (2005), and in the context of the
so-called evolution-creation debate, the limelight shone on York County
in a case in which the nature of science education was debated
(Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Dist 2005, Padian 2009).
This legal case that took place locally, and had huge national
repercussions serves as an excellent example for the need to
educate college students (especially non-science majors) in the practice
of sound scientific thinking as it applies to the “complex,
contested, capacious, current, and unresolved public issues” that
exist locally and globally. SENCER encourages the development of
scientific thinking at the same time as it encourages active and informed
civic

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engagement. This need is also highlighted in a recent issue of Science,
including the statement, “Biology teachers lack the skills and…
to teach it properly” (Mervis 2015), illustrating the role that
SENCER could play in providing instructors with the tools they
would need to feel confident in tackling such challenging and
timely controversies in science education.
2. SENCER Comes to Penn State York
Penn State York is one of more than twenty Penn State campuses statewide
and is a relatively small, student-centered campus that includes
approximately 1100 non-residential students; about 25% of them are
adult learners. The coursework for the first two years of more than
160 Penn State baccalaureate majors is offered, as well as eight
baccalaureate degrees, five associate degrees, and one master’s
degree. Penn State York is located in south-central Pennsylvania,
approximately a two-hour drive from Washington, District of
Columbia, the capital of the USA, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city
with the largest population in the state. The campus rests on 51 acres
that overlook the historic City of York. The undergraduate degrees at Penn
State include 35- 38% gen-ed credits. Currently, the gen-ed
curriculum follows a traditional model consisting of a menu of
courses across the arts, humanities, social sciences, as well as
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). These
STEM gen-ed courses include astronomy, chemistry, information
sciences and technology, meteorology, as well as biology, to name a few.
There are four gen-ed courses in the biological sciences at Penn State
York: Structure and Function of Organisms; Genetics, Ecology, and
Evolution, Environmental Science, and Human Body: Form and Function.
Gen-ed courses often serve dual purposes at Penn State: as
electives for students from other disciplines, or as
gateway-to-major courses for those within the major. Inasmuch as
the STEM courses are often critically important in the modern
world, it is disheartening to know that often non-science majors are
hesitant to take gen-ed STEM courses because they are anxious about or
disinterested in the topics discussed in the courses This happens
to the detriment of the overall education of non-science majors
and can affect their ability to contribute responsibly to society as
well-informed citizens. It is our hope that through this redesign process,
we can make courses more interesting and relevant to a wider undergraduate
population on campus.
3. The Redesign
Most of the gen-ed science courses at Penn State York are taught by
adjunct instructors (author JASB included) and are taught in a traditional
lecture-based approach. There are several concerns with our desire
to change this model. While we understand the benefits of active
learning on students’ motivation and engagement with course material,
we are also keenly aware of the well- documented resistance that
students can give when asked to assume more

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responsibility for their own learning in active models (Weimer
2002). We consider that part of any redesign plan must include early
conversations about the design and expectations in the course so that
students can make changes if they are uncomfortable or unwilling to
complete the course as designed. Another strategy we plan to employ is to
build the model slowly over time, incorporating only one or two modules in
the first iteration of the redesign so as to address challenges and
problems on a smaller scale initially.
Choosing a Course and Identifying Issues
We chose the campus environmental science gen-ed course as the
target course for redesign because of the natural fit between
the content and civic issues that could be addressed. Every topic has
obvious connections to problems and challenges faced locally and globally.
We started by doing an inventory of the topics to be covered, followed by
brainstorming the many possible relevant questions/issues that could be
associated with each (Table 1).
Table 1 Sampling of Typical Environmental Science Units and Associated
Issues
Main Topic Relevant Issues/Questions/Problems
● What are the big environmental questions/problems of our Understanding
our
time?
Environment
● How should we proceed with the class? What should guide
us? What processes and approaches can we use to make
sure we are thinking scientifically and ethically?
● What projects interest you and how would you proceed? Environmental ●
How are we connected to the environment?
Systems ● How do environmental changes in one area impact another?
● What happens when our world has decreasing biodiversity? Evolution ● How
can we think scientifically about evolution (even if we
don’t believe)?
● Is overpopulation a real phenomenon?
Human
● Why does human population size matter?
Populations
● Should it be controlled? If so, how and by whom?
● What is the history of human migration? What are the
drivers of migration and population growth/change?
● Where does our garbage go in York County? What can be
improved in the current system? How would you go about The Problem of our
it?
own Waste ● What are the biggest national and global refuse issues and
proposed solutions?
● How would your group tackle these issues?
● What is the water system in York County? Where do we get Enough to
Drink?
our water and where does our waste water go?
● Who regulates and monitors the quality of our water?

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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Food and Agriculture
● How does our water system connect with other regional
systems and what are the issues?
● Nationally and internationally, what are the major water
issues and how does our local water use connect to these
larger issues?
● What are the local, national, and global hunger hotspots?
Why?
● Who goes hungry and why?
● Who addresses hunger locally, nationally, globally? Is it
effective?
● What changes would you make to improve things?
Climate Change
● What changes would you make to improve things? ● Global climate change:
Fact or fiction? ● What are the impacts of climate change? ● What is the
current scientific research? ● What is being done to address it?
● What still needs to be done?
Developing a Module
Next, we started to think about possible modules for a few of the
identified issues which would include the scientific content to be
covered, an associated civic issue/problem to be solved, activities to
be completed to solve the issue and learn the content, avenues for
sharing the results, and assessment. Going back and forth between
our ideas and the rubric elements as well as the SENCER Ideals,
helped us to stay on track. For example, we needed to
concretely think about including 21st century skills and
interdisciplinary components in the design, which we had not
thought about originally. This iterative process helped not only to
refine our design, but also to solidify for us, a deeper understanding of
the SENCER Ideals. Table 2 provides an example of a sample module
including these elements.
Table 2. Sample Module with Incorporation of Rubric Elements.
Topic: Our Food Supply
SENCER Rubric
Elements
Course Module Element
Learning Goals: By the end of the unit, students will be able to:
1.Content 1. Content Goals
 Describe the many aspects of global hunger and the
associated health risks
 Describe the major food crops around the world
 Describe the environmental costs associated with
farming
2. 21st Century Skills
2. 21st Century Skills
 Demonstrate ethical decision making practices
incorporated in the problem-solving process

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Associated Civic Questions, Problems, or Issues
Activities: By Group Doing the Project
Activities: By Students in the Audience
Transforming New Knowledge to Action
 Demonstrate evidence of sound critical and scientific
thinking
● What are the local, national, and global hunger hotspots? Why? Or, who
goes hungry and why?
● Who addresses hunger locally, nationally, globally? Is it effective?
● What changes would you make to improve things? ● How does farming in York
County impact the environment of the Chesapeake Bay?
● After meeting with the instructor, students will choose to investigate
some of the associated questions (or ones of their own choosing) as
described above.
● During the Food Supply Unit, the group will present their problem and
proposed solutions for improvement/ change. ● Each presentation also needs
to contain a discussion of the scientific and ethical considerations that
should be taken into account when proposing solutions (Paul and Elder
2008; Markkula Center, Santa Clara University 2014). ● Students write a
summary article to be posted in the class newsletter on their topic.
During student presentations, students in the audience bring examples or
questions related to the topic to add to the discussion and are encouraged
to challenge the group in terms of the quality of their scientific and
ethical approaches to the analysis. They hand in their contributions on an
index card at the end of class.
The class discussion ends with a brainstorming session called, “What more
can we do about this issue?”
Bonus points can be earned by groups who take up the challenge to action.
Assessment: 1. Project
1. Project Assessment: Rubric to assess project components
2. Audience
2. Audience Assessment: Student earn points for each substantive
addition to the discussion
3. Whole Class
3. Whole Class: Weekly online quiz, exams, project, outside events
4. Course
Interdisciplinary Element
Sharing
4. Course Assessment: SENCER-SALG, Student evaluations, end-of-course
satisfaction survey, pre-/post-test of course content.
● Nutrition instructor invited to do a guest lecture on the
impact of hunger on human health and wellness. ● Library-sponsored
events that incorporate speakers from
multiple disciplines discussing the topics.
Results of group projects are shared online via class newsletter.

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A typical module would begin with an introductory lecture/overview by
the instructor. Guest speakers would also be integrated to ensure
that multi- disciplinary aspects were incorporated. For example, the
nutrition instructor could be invited to speak during the unit on food
supply to talk to students about the impacts of hunger on human
wellness. Local farmers who minimize the impact of agricultural
runoff into the Susquehanna/Chesapeake could also be invited to
talk about the environmental concerns of farm waste in the local
watershed. This introduction to each topic would be followed by a
presentation by one student group working on the associated
problem. They would be charged with exploring the issue at a
local, national, and global level. They would describe the issue and
then their proposed solutions. They would need to also point out the
elements of scientific and ethical thinking that they used to analyze and
address the problem. A final report, written by the group, would be
summarized and posted to an online class newsletter which would then
include all groups’ summaries by the end of the semester.
Students watching the presentations would be charged with bringing
examples or questions related to the topic to add to the discussion
and would be encouraged to challenge the group in terms of the
quality of their scientific and ethical approaches to the
analysis. Students in the audience would earn points for the contributions
to the discussion. All students would complete a weekly online
quiz on the general topic. Exams would take place five times during the
semester and would cover lectures, group presentations, and other relevant
material.
Integrating Content Objectives with 21st Century Skills
When we began to think about the course as a series of
problems to be solved rather than simply content to be learned,
we decided to give students problem-solving strategies and
critical thinking approaches that could also address 21st century
skill development as prescribed by the SENCER rubric. We decided on two
different support tools, Paul and Elder’s Scientific Thinking from their
Critical Thinking Series (2008) and The Markkula Center for
Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University’s ethical decision-making
tool (Santa Clara University 2014). As students attempt to solve the
environmental problems, they must integrate both solid scientific
thinking and ethical principles using these tools. The American
Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) also provides a free
tool called VALUE Rubrics which can shed light on the components
of ethical and critical thinking as well as civic engagement, and
could be very useful to faculty in further assessing student learning and
growth.
Incorporating Interdisciplinary Components and the Library
One of the important aspects of SENCER is to help students understand the
complexity inherent in solving contemporary issues. Very few
problems (and their solutions) are straightforward. They often
require knowledge of subjects that extend beyond the content being
studied. Interdisciplinary approaches, then,

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make sense in terms of broadening student perspectives. To build
this aspect into the course, we decided early on that it is vital to
partner with our campus librarians to develop meaningful
co-curricular programming that could encourage students to think
beyond the course content. The timing for this collaboration was
perfect, as our campus library is currently piloting a first-year
experience (FYE) program in hopes of increasing student engagement in our
our commuter campus community, improving first-year student
success, and creating an awareness of the value of academic libraries
(Oakleaf 2010). While programming is an integral part of what
public libraries contribute to their communities, programming in an
academic library usually takes the form of course-related library
instruction sessions and a few research workshops. This FYE model
expands the library’s role beyond course-based academic support by
providing additional programming that gives students opportunities
to engage socially and intellectually with faculty, staff, and other
students through topics of interest. The events are designed to be
interdisciplinary, encouraging attendees to engage in conversations from
multiple perspectives on a variety of topics. One of the aspects of the
library FYE is civic and social literacy, which fits into the SENCER
approach of a “focus on contested issues…with civic questions that
require attention now”.
Academic libraries, by their very nature, are highly interdisciplinary, so
we saw this FYE program as an excellent venue to collaborate on
programming to support the attainment of the SENCER Ideals. We
envision working with the librarians to create monthly events
open to the campus and community to be held in the library.
These events would highlight relevant course topics and
incorporate multi-disciplinary perspectives. Another idea would be to
create a common conversation in the community in much the same
way that a community-wide reading program (such as the “One
Book” program) is designed to do. This collaborative research
approach, known as community- based participatory research (CBPR)
is already being utilized in the area of public health, often with
the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This approach could
encourage a wider sharing of student projects and solutions with the
community-at-large. We strongly believe that partnering with the
library to facilitate interdisciplinary programming and student
engagement beyond the classroom would become an integral part of the
course redesign.
Encouraging Student Input
An important part of the redesign calls for student input into
the design process. The plan in the first iteration is to develop several
module “projects” so that students can choose topics of individual
interest, to be completed as a project portion of the grade. Student
teams would present their work during that portion of the course with the
associated content. To help students prepare for their presentation, 15
minutes each week would be given for groups to connect and plan for
their tasks. The instructor would meet with each group twice:

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initially to get their plans formulated and again the week before
presentation to make sure the projects were rigorous enough and on track.
Conversations about SENCER Ideals and goals would be central
to the course delivery so that students understand the underlying reason
for the course design and the process in which they will participate. The
challenge will be to design activities that are truly possible to
complete by students independently and which are rigorous, as well as
interesting.
Undergraduate Research and Honors Option (Figures 1-3)
Coincidentally, at the same time that we attended the SENCER
Summer Institute, JASB and undergraduates had already begun research on a
local, small creek, called Poor House Run (PHR, an abbreviation
used on some manhole covers in the City of York, Pennsylvania).
By the time we had finished the summer SENCER workshop, it had
become obvious that PHR could be a powerful vehicle to carefully
tackle important issues in environmental sciences, such as the
importance of environmental sciences, water chemistry and pollution,
biodiversity, waste, conservation, restoration, human health, etc.
Figure 1. Nichole Wrobel getting ready to work on a Ceratopteris fern
(C-fern) research project during the summer 2014. All students on Figures
1-3 kindly gave permission to use their images. All images on Figures 1-3
lightly touched by E. Leavell (The ITSupport Center).

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BB
AA
CC
DD
EE Figure 2. Undergraduate research students hard at work collecting,
sorting, and learning with joy during the fall 2014 semester at Penn State
York. A. Daved Fouad and Abigail Doniecki sampling with the Surber
sampler. B. Brandon Merkert. C. Rajeev Joshi (left) and Aruba Tariq
(right). D. Merna Mikail collecting aerial insects. E. Sorting
insects. Distal bench (left to right), A. Donieki, D. Fouad;
middle bench, M. Mekail, Taylor Mandara, and R. Joshi; proximal bench,
Goral Patel and A. Tariq. The organisms sorted by these and other
dedicated students are being prepared by author JASB for further
scientific study. Photo on panel “E” taken by S. Brown, reproduced with
permission.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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AA
BB
CC
DD
EE
Figure 3. Undergraduate students performing microbiological analyses
of the water in Poor House Run, York, Pennsylvania as part of
Microbiology Laboratory (Microbiology 202) course during the fall 2014
semester. In addition to a plethora of “canned” exercises, every
opportunity was used conduct original research. A. Abigail Snyder (left)
and Laura Ohl (right). B. Chelsey Bryant. C. Taylor Mandara (left)
and Daved Fouad (right). D. Aruba Tariq. E. Abigail Doniecki,
Kaleigh Lukacs, Erica Little, and A. Snyder. All images, except B,
taken by B. Dennis. All images reproduced with permission from the
students and Ms. Dennis.

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We have received excellent feedback from students involved in that project
on how appropriate the activities would be for implementation in a revised
gen- ed course as an honors option or for undergraduate research.
One of the challenges of incorporating a problem-based approach in a
gen-ed course is the large enrollment in these courses and lack of
teaching support for “laboratories” of non-science major courses. Faculty
members at Penn State York do not have graduate assistants or staff
to support large numbers of students in field situations, but a
small honors cohort within the class might be possible.
Assessment
Assessment of student learning outcomes as well as overall course design
will be completed on several levels. Students will be assessed (graded) for
their performance on:
 the group project
 exams
 online quizzes
 participation during class
 participation in outside events (library or community)
Student learning outcomes and course satisfaction will be further assessed
(non-graded) using the following:
 a course content pre-/post test
 the SENCER-SALG pre-/post-test
 student course evaluations
 post-course satisfaction survey
 VALUE Rubric
The SENCER-SALG is another SENCER-derived tool that is freely
available for use online. It “allows students to rate how well specific
activities in courses have helped their learning and also asks
students to report on their science skills and interests, as well as
the civic activities in which they engage”. Table 3 shows the broad
categories of questions asked in both the pre- and post- semester
assessments.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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47
Table 3 Broad Question Categories on SENCER-SALG.
SENCER SALG Pre-semester SENCER SALG Post-semester Assessment Assessment
● Confidence in science literacy skills ● What gains have you made in
understanding the course content ● Confidence in general science course ●
Do you see an increase in other
skills academic skills like textbook reading,
for example?
● Interest in science literacy ● How did the class impact your attitudes
about science and the content? ●Interest in “advanced” science activities ●
To what extent were you able to
integrate your learning into everyday
life and other courses?
● Levels of student civic engagement ● To what extent did the following
help
your learning:
 Overall approach to the course
 In-class activities
 Graded Assignments
 Class resources (textbooks,
worksheets, etc.)
 General information provided about
the course
 Extra learning support opportunities ● What type of scientific
preparation do you
already have, i.e. number of AP courses ● How much time did you devote to
your
taken? studies for this course?
Each SENCER-SALG assessment has required elements to maintain the
reliability and validity of the instruments as determined through
research by Weston et al (2006). Additional questions can be
added by instructors to suit their needs. According to Weston et
al. (2006), the strongest aspect of the validity of the
SENCER-SALG had to do with its utility in making course redesign
decisions. It is in this light that we intended its use.
Data Collection
An Institutional Review Board (IRB) proposal was submitted by
author SCS (IRB # 863) and approved during the summer 2014, to
begin collecting data to assess the effectiveness of the SENCER
redesign. In the fall 2014 semester, during a traditional lecture
format offering of the environmental science course, students took a
course content pre-/post-test, completed student course evaluations,
and completed pre-/post-semester SENCER-SALG assessments. We plan to
use this benchmark data to make comparisons between students in the
traditional course model (fall 2014) and those taking the
redesigned SENCER course in the future. The data is interesting as it gives
some

========15========

Life: The Excitement of Biology
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48
indications of where a course redesign could have a positive impact on
learning outcomes.
Results and Discussion
Pre-semester SENCER-SALG data (n = 37) in Figure 4 show students’ self-
perceptions of their aptitude, interest, and attitudes towards science as
well as the level of integration of scientific thought into their everyday
lives. Clearly, there is plenty of room for improvement in all
areas, including general understanding of scientific topics, skills in
scientific approaches to thinking and learning, current attitudes towards
learning science, and integrating science into everyday life.
Figure 4. Student self-reported levels of scientific aptitude, interest,
and attitudes using SENCER-SALG (Traditional Course, Pre-semester). N/A
means not applicable.
Post-semester data from students (n = 28) in a traditional lecture course
who took SENCER-SALG provide a benchmark against which to measure
future improvement with a new design using the SENCER model.
Figures 5 and 6 show response averages by question category
post-semester.
SENCER-SALG data pre- and post-semester confirmed our hypotheses that
there are some gaps in student learning outcomes that occur when a
traditional mostly-lecture model is used. For example, changing attitudes
towards science and integration of scientific thinking into everyday life
are two important areas that could be improved upon (Figure 5). Using the
SENCER model to redesign a gen-ed science course, we hypothesize,
could provide opportunities to make

========16========

Life: The Excitement of Biology
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49
gains in those areas of scientific and civic literacy among non-science
majors that currently do not seem to be addressed by traditional models of
teaching and learning.
Figure 5. Student self-reported gains using SENCER-SALG (Traditional
Course, Post- semester). N/A means not applicable.
Figure 6. Student Rating of Course Element Helpfulness Using
SENCER-SALG (Traditional Course, Post-semester). N/A means not applicable.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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50
4. Next Steps and Concerns
Our plan is to incorporate the SENCER redesign slowly, by giving students
the option to complete a module, as described herein, in lieu of
one course exam. We plan to use this as a pilot to give us
the opportunity to address challenges in the design, in the hopes of
moving to a wider integration in future semesters.
The authors are mindful of the pitfalls of trying to do too
much in any course that has limited resources, including time, the
challenges of developing inter-departmental cooperation, and
administration buy-in and support. Perhaps, selecting three possible
issues (described below) that the students could investigate that
are tied to the area around York, Pennsylvania would be a good place to
begin.
● The impact of farming and agriculture in York on the Susquehanna River
and the Chesapeake Bay basins. Pollution that comes downstream
from Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland harms the Chesapeake Bay,
causing great damage to marine life and fishing-based livelihoods.
● The impact of dams on the Susquehanna River and on Chesapeake Bay.
● The impact of nuclear reactors on the environment (c.f. Three
Mile Island, located in the Susquehanna River, south of
Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania).
The faculty members(s) teaching the course and librarian(s) could
begin early to provide research materials on these issues (or other
issues) earlier in the term. Students could focus early in the course and
not invest time trying to find topics and supporting material. The
professor and/or students could do short presentations on the
pros/cons of each of the topics and then the students could choose which
one(s) they would like to do. This allows greater control over the
effort made by all parties and reduces the likelihood that the
students would become discouraged by not finding research material
expeditiously. This could be important for the less
academically-experienced or able students.
Also, depending on the current and future teaching interests, will there
be faculty members available to teach this using this approach
after the current faculty move on? Sustainability of efforts within the
curriculum and institution is in the SENCER rubric as an important
criterion for evaluation.
In spite of our concerns, we see a need to increase students’s interest in
the sciences as well as their ability to think critically, scientifically,
and ethically. We consider that the SENCER model of redesigning
gen-ed science courses, offer us the opportunity to do this - thereby
helping students to become more knowledgeable, engaged, and, above all,
aware citizens.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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51
Acknowledgements
Two anonymous reviewers offered extremely valuable and constructive
suggestions for which we are profoundly grateful. Our SENCER coach, Dr.
Garon Smith (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA) provided us with a plethora of
resources, sound advice, and inspiration. Heather Drought read the next to
last version of the paper and offered numerous corrections. Tracy Barbaro
(Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), Georgina Cullman
(Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural
History, New York, NY, USA), John Bull (Weber State University, Ogden,
Utah, USA), William J. Kleindl (Flathead Biological Research Station,
University of Montana and Naiad Aquatic Consultants, LLC, Bozeman,
Montana, USA), Bruce Alan Noll (College of Education, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA), Raquel Pereira (Barcelos, Portugal),
Marc Srour (Enalia Physis Environmental Research Center, Cyprus),
Jessica B. Turner (West Virginia University, Morgantown, West
Virginia, USA), and Paul Weihe (Central College, Pella, Iowa,
USA), made us aware of many valuable teaching resources that
supplemented the ones we were aware of, and are listed in the
Appendix.
Literature Cited
Deci, E. L. and R. Flaste. 1996. Why We Do What We Do: Understanding
Self-Motivation. Penguin
Books. New, York, NY, USA. 230 pp.
hooks, b. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of
Freedom. Routledge. New
York, NY, USA. 216 pp. Author hooks, prefers to use lowercase for her pen
name; her given
name is Gloria Jean Watkins, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Dist. (Tammy Kitzmille, et al.
Plaintiffs v. Dover Area School
District et al., Defendants). No. 04cv2688.2005. United States
District Court, M.D.
Pennsylvania. Dec. 20, 2005. 400 F.Supp.2d 707 (M.D.Pa. 2005)
https://www.bu.edu/lawlibrary/PDFs/research/portals/probonofiles/kitzmiller.pdf
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Santa Clara University.
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/
Mervis, J. 2015. Why many U.S. biology teachers are
‘wishy-washy’. Science (American
Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, District
of Columbia, USA).
347(6226):1054.
Oakleaf, M. 2010. Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive
Research Review and Report.
Association of College and Research Libraries. Chicago. Published
online at
www.acrl.ala.org/value
Padian, K. 2009. The evolution of creationists in the United States: Where
are they now, and where
are they going? Comptes Rendus (Paris) Biologie 332:100-109.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.07.004
Paul, R. and L. Elder. 2008. The Miniature Guide for Students and Faculty
to Scientific Thinking.
The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
http://www.criticalthinking.org/store/products/scientific-
thinking-for-students-and-faculty/170
Wallace, D, F. 2005. Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address
- May 21, 2005.
Written and Delivered by David Foster Wallace.
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/DFWKenyonAddress2005.pdf. An audio
version with some
transcription in English is available in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI Weimer, M. 2002.
Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Jossey-Bass. San
Francisco, California, USA. 258 pp.
Weston, T., E. Seymour, and H. Thiry. 2006. Evaluation of
Science Education for New Civic
Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Project. Prepared for The
National Center for
Science and Civic Engagement. December 1, 2006.
http://www.sencer.net/assessment/pdfs/final_report_sencer_12_21_06.pdf
Wiggins, G. and J. McTighe. 2005. Understanding by Design. Expanded second
edition. Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Alexandria, Virginia,
USA. 370 pp.

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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52
Appendix
Some internet-based resources in biology, subdivided by category. Several
links are
listed more than once as we believe they are well-suited for each of the
listed
categories.
Some 20 years ago, one of the best teachers author JASB has ever met, Dr.
Donald Cronkite (Hope College, Holland, Michigan, USA), asked
author JASB to give a presentation on internet resources for human
anatomy and physiology. At that time, there were thousands of hits on
those key words. Today, there are millions. Obviously, the
compilation of web resources in different areas of biology that
follows is not comprehensive. Instead, it is the result of our own
teaching practice as well as that of our colleagues, listed in the
Acknowledgments. They have generously contributed selected resources
that have worked for them as individuals.
We decided to begin this list with Ethical Thinking because goodness is
important. Most links pertain to more than one area of science,
hence they are listed under “Interdisciplinary”, following Ethical
Thinking. Some of the listed resources are not free and some others
may require additional time to generate a login, a password, etc.
All links were verified on April 15-16, 2015.
Ethical Thinking
Making an Ethical Decision. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
Santa Clara
University. http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/making.pdf .
Santa Clara
university has some great resources! Read about their approach at
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/#sthash.z6ZSz5HU.dpbs ,
including
an app!
Interdisciplinary
Bad Science. http://www.badscience.net/
BioScience Ed Net (BEN). Digital Library Portal for Teaching and
Learning in the
Biological Sciences. http://www.biosciednet.org/portal/
Bill Nye. The Science Guy. http://billnye.com/
ChemSpider Blog. Building Community for Chemists.
http://www.chemspider.com/blog/a-well-done-scientific-hoax-called-water-
marbles.html
Citizen Science. Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/
Creature ⦁ Cast. The Unexpected World of Biology. http://creaturecast.org/
Discovery. http://www.discovery.com/
How stuff works. http://www.howstuffworks.com/

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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53
Howtosmile.org. All the Best Science & Math Activities.
http://howtosmile.org/
I Can Has Science? http://icanhasscience.com/
IFL Science. http://www.iflscience.com/
Improbable Research. http://www.improbable.com/
Jefferson Lab. Science Education. http://education.jlab.org/index.html
KQED Science. http://blogs.kqed.org/science/
Linda Dong. Interaction & Industrial Designer. http://www.lindadong.com/
LiveScience. http://www.livescience.com/
Liu, D. W. 2013. Physics and Biology collaborate to color the world. CBE
Life Sciences
Educcation 12(2):133-138. doi: 10.1187/cbe.13-03-0056 or
http://www.lifescied.org/content/12/2/133
Make: http://makezine.com/
Makedo. Start Making Your Own Creations. http://www.mymakedo.com/shop
MathBench Biology Modules. University of Maryland. http://mathbench.umd.edu/
Moment of Science. Indiana Public Media.
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/
Montana Science Teachers Association.
http://www.ivymerriot.com/montanascience/
Montana State University. Extended University.
http://eu.montana.edu/SciSat/default.htm
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html#.VGDrq_nF98E and
http://www.nasa.gov/
New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/
Otherlab. https://otherlab.com/
Nature.com. http://www.nature.com/
Neil deGrasse Tyson. http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/
Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com/

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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54
Pure Grass ≈ A dramatic interpretation of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of
Grass by Bruce
Noll. http://www.unm.edu/~banoll/about.htm
RedOrbit Your Universe Online. http://www.redorbit.com/
Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS).
http://www.sciencemag.org/
ScienceDaily. Your sorce for the latest research news.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
Science Friday. http://www.sciencefriday.com/home/index.html
Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/
Shodor. A National Resource for Computational Science Education.
http://www.shodor.org/home/
Smater Every Day. https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2
Smithsonian.com. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/?no-ist
Southern Fried Science. http://www.southernfriedscience.com/
Space.com. http://www.space.com/
STEM to STEAM. http://stemtosteam.org/
Steve Spangler Science. http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/
Student Science. A Resource of the Society for Science and the
Public.
https://student.societyforscience.org/
Teaching Biology. http://bioteaching.com/
TERC. https://www.terc.edu/display/HOME/Home
The American Entomologists Poet's Guide to the Orders of Insect. eBook
(Kindle)
The Cultural Cognition Project. Yale Law School.
http://www.culturalcognition.net/
The Naked Scientists. http://www.thenakedscientists.com/
The World’s Greatests D.I.Y. Comic Website.
http://www.howtoons.com/?page_id=2
TreeHugger 10 Years of Looking Forward. http://www.treehugger.com/
Welcome to Science Forward.
http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/scienceforward/

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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55
WIRED. http://www.wired.com/
Cellular Biology, Genetics, Development
Drosophila Sciencecourseware.org.
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/vcise/drosophila/
Ghost in Your Gene. NOVA. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/ Author JASB
tells all
his students that after watching this video – note, several
versions are freely
available on the web – “you will not see genetics the same way ever again.”
Learn.Genetics. Genetic Science Learning Center.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/
Scitable. Nature Publishing Group.
http://blogs.nature.com/
http://www.nature.com/scitable
;
Value @ ARMITA. NME ICT initiative of MHRD.
http://amrita.vlab.co.in/index.php?sub=3&brch=273&sim=1437&cnt=1
Ecology, Environmental Sciences, Evolution, and Biodiversity
Charles Darwin & Evolution 1809-2009.
http://darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=g8
Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). http://eol.org/info/ed_resources
Free Woodworking Plans. http://free.woodworking-plans.org/
Global Warming & Climate Change Myths. Getting Skeptical About Global
Warming Skepticism.
Skeptical Science. https://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php This
is an invaluable
resource!
Harvest of Fear. A NOVA/Frontline Special Report.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/
Human Origins Project. National Geographic.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/projects/human-origins/
Intelligent Design on Trial. NOVA.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/intelligent-
design-trial.html . See also this link from the National Center for Science
Education,
http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/intelligent-design-trial-kitzmiller-v-dover
, and
this other link
http://ncse.com/files/pub/legal/kitzmiller/highlights/2005-12-
20_Kitzmiller_decision.pdf
Montana Outdoor Science School. Fostering a Love of the
http://www.outdoorscience.org/
Outdoor.
National Center for Science Education. Defending the Teaching of Evolution
and Clmate
Science. http://ncse.com/
National Science Teachers Association. http://www.nsta.org/

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Life: The Excitement of Biology
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56
Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP).
American Museum of
natural History. http://ncep.amnh.org
Perkins, A. E. H. 2014. The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution.
Second Edition
by Carl Zimmer. Study Guide. Roberts and Company Publishers.
Greenwood
Village, Colorado, USA. 290 pp. This excellent book is loaded with
activities fot its
book companion, Zimmer (2015 listed below).
The Evolution of Man. BBC. Unfortunately, this valuable resource
is no longer being
updated. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/human/human_evolution/
Union of Concerned Scientists. Science for a Healthy Planet and
a Safer World.
http://www.ucsusa.org/
What does it mean to be human? Smithsonian Instiutution, National Museum of
natural
History. http://humanorigins.si.edu/
Zimmer, C. 2015. The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution.
Second Edition.
Roberts and Company Publishers. Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA. 452 pp.
http://ncse.com/files/pub/legal/kitzmiller/highlights/2005-12-20_Kitzmiller_decision.pdf
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/making.pdf which we will
consider using
as part of the course redesign (Santa Clara University, 2014).
Educational Technology
American Association of School Librarians (AASL). A Division of the
American Library
Association. Transforming Learning. http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-
guidelines/best-websites/2014
Suzanne Shaffer Teaching and Learning Resources.
http://sites.psu.edu/shafferpsy/
Texas Instruments. http://education.ti.com/en/us/home

========24========



On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 9:19 PM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> leb-31santiago-blay-et-al-pp-33-56-sencerizing.pdf
>
> https://blaypublishers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/leb-31santiago-blay-et-al-pp-33-56-sencerizing.pdf
>
> Life: The Excitement of Biology
> SENCERizing a Biology General Education (Gen-Ed) Course
>
> Jorge A. Santiago-Blay
> Suzanne C. Shaffer
> Barbara Eshbach
>
> “It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing
> to do with knowledge, and
> everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and
> essential, so hidden in
> plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to ke
> ep reminding ourselves over and over: "This is water."” (Wallace 2005)
> http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/DFWKenyonAddress2005.pdf
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
> This paper is wholeheartedly dedicated to the
> thirteen undergraduates who enriched our lives during the summer and fall
> of 2014
> by demonstrating how far education can go when, in spite of limitations,
> there are motivation and inspiration!
> Abstract:
> We describe an effort to teach non-science majors’ general education
> courses using the
> SENCER paradigm, namely, to “strengthen student learning and interest in
> the sciences, technology, engineering,
> and mathematics by connecting course topics to issues of critical local,
> national, and global importance.”
> Key Words:
> General Education courses, course redesign, STEM,
> sciences, technology, engineering,
> and mathematics, SENCER, life-long learning, complex problems, pragmatism,
> STEM education,
> higher education, civic engagement, cultural cognition, curriculum,
> education, communication,
> imagination, multidisciplinarity, high-impact educational practices
>
> <>
> Jorge A. Santiago-Blay blayjorge@gmail.comTo: Sanet-MG list
>
> Dear Richard and SANETters:
>
> Richard, will pass your kind message to the coauthors as, without their
> hard work, the paper would not have been possible.
>
> SANETters, please, feel free to distribute the link to the paper as you may
> wish.
>
> With gratefulness,
>
> Jorge
>
> On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Richard Molini <richmo@frontier.com>
> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> It appears a version of the SENCER curriculum should be required for all
> business majors and all junior execs for every incorporated entity. It may
> not be extremely productive but at least they will be somewhat aware of
> the potential consequences of their actions and decisions, will not be able
> to plead ignorance, and most importantly expose them to the apparently
> foreign idea of ethical consciousness. Kudos Jorge
>
>
> https://blaypublishers.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/leb-31santiago-blay-et-al-pp-33-56-sencerizing.pdf
>
> Rich Molini
> Atlanta, Indiana
>
> --
> Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD
> blaypublishers.com
>
> 1. Positive experiences for authors of papers published in *LEB*
> http://blaypublishers.com/testimonials/
>
> 2. Free examples of papers published in *LEB*:
> http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/.
>
> 3. *Guidelines for Authors* and page charges of *LEB*:
> http://blaypublishers.com/archives/ *.*
>
> 4. Want to subscribe to *LEB*? http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/
>
>
> http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/
> http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.cfm
>
> --
> *John Dorner*
> IT Coordinator
> USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program
> (828) 290-9876
> http://www.sare.org
>
> --
> Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD
> blaypublishers.com
>
> 1. Positive experiences for authors of papers published in *LEB*
> http://blaypublishers.com/testimonials/
>
> 2. Free examples of papers published in *LEB*:
> http://blaypublishers.com/category/previous-issues/.
>
> 3. *Guidelines for Authors* and page charges of *LEB*:
> http://blaypublishers.com/archives/ *.*
>
> 4. Want to subscribe to *LEB*? http://blaypublishers.com/subscriptions/
>
>
> http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/
> http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.cfm
>
>


--
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/




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