The Course
Course Learning Goals for Instructors and Students
Instructor's Goals:
Introductory science education for non-major or pre-major students often leaves students unengaged by the material, uninterested in further study, and unaware of the relevance of science to personal as well as global issues. This course creates linked, international curricula at Duke University (USA) and Egerton University (Kenya) using the science of HIV/AIDS to enhance science literacy, personal engagement and research skills. The ARGUE course also adopts the goal from the NSF's Strategic Plan to create " a diverse, internationally competitive, and globally engaged workforce of scientists, engineers, and wellprepared citizens". AIDS addresses that goal by combining scientific content with international collaborative learning and research projects of value to an international community partner. The overarching goals of the course are to
1) to increase the ability of students to evaluate, research, and communicate scientific knowledge clearly;
2) to increase awareness of how science is perceived and utilized across cultures; and
3) to foster an lifelong interest in understanding the role science plays in globalization and international development.
Student's Goals:
There are clear and measurable objectives for students participating in this course. After this course, students will be able to
1) relate molecular biology and evolution to viral transmission, pathology, virulence and treatment;
2) evaluate complex, real world situations to determine the impact scientific thinking and processes have on social, political, and international development issues;
3) evaluate the quality of scientific data and hypotheses by analyzing the controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS;
4) research and present information as they work collaboratively to convey scientific knowledge to their peers; and
5) critically analyze the ethical complexities surrounding the disparate benefits of science and technology to developed versus developing countries.
Syllabus
Reading and Assignment Calendar
Web Readings
Assignment Calendar
Course Design
Format and Pedagogies
ARGUE is usually offered as two cross-listed full credit courses in the same semester that students may choose between. Students enrolled in Biology 46 participate in a 300-person lecture course (the largest elective at Duke) that meets for 75 minutes twice a week. Students in Bio 46B also participate in the same two lectures a week, but also meet with the professor for another 75 minute period to focus on HIV/AIDS in the context of Kenya and work on a common research project. At Duke all courses carry one credit even if there are extra contact hours for discussion groups or laboratories. Thus, students in Bio 46 and Bio 46B receive the same course credit.
Collaborative linkages between students at Duke and Egerton for both the large and small classes were designed using input from students at both institutions, as well as Dr. Rose Odhiambo, who leads a SENCER course at Egerton University. The small class linkage is project-based, and the research topic is determined every year by the teaching and community-outreach needs of Egerton staff and students, and more recently by a partner school and community near Lake Victoria.
Claire Lauterbach working with students at a secondary school in Kenya.
Research products have included curricula on HIV/AIDS (which has been used by over 2000 students at Egerton), HIV peer education materials, resources on the relationship between gender inequality and health, and programs to support girls' education. Having students involved in research produces an indeterminate learning path, which is a novel experience for many students, but one that most mimics real world problem solving, and which students rank as highly effective for learning.
The large class linkage uses a series of assignments to be completed collaboratively by Duke and Egerton students. The topics were developed collaboratively by Duke and Egerton students and took into account the resources and knowledge base of each student population. Students at Duke have technological access to published information about HIV/AIDS, but little personal engagement with the disease. Students at Egerton see the effect of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in all aspects of their daily lives, yet have little access to the huge body of literature about the science of HIV/AIDS. (An Internet cafe for students in the course was built at Egerton in order to foster communication during this project.) The assignments were developed using the strategies outlined in "Engaging Ideas: the professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom" by John C. Bean. We have also used the recommendations for improving undergraduate education proposed by
Ernest Boyer (14). Boyer states that "students must learn how to convey the results of their work effectively both orally and in writing"; that "all student grades should reflect both the mastery of content and the ability to convey content"; and that courses should "allow for joint projects and collaborative efforts". Assignments include critical thinking and writing exercises involving the following topics:
1) The sufficiency of evidence that HIV causes AIDS and the political and social context that has caused some African leaders to doubt the evidence;
2) Hypotheses and myths about where the HIV virus originated and how it has spread to become a global pandemic;
3) How new drugs and vaccines are designed and the ethics of testing in developing countries;
4) How gender roles in each community affect the transmission of HIV;
5) How drug therapy compliance relates to the evolution of resistance to anti-retrovirals; and
6) Balancing the need for economic development versus the danger of new zoonoses, like HIV, from ecological change.
A major difficulty of large courses is that students can feel anonymous and thus 'off the hook' for participation. I try to personalize the interaction by having music playing when students walk into the auditorium and then wander the room asking for new musical selections. Cruising iTunes with a group of students or having them offer to bring in CDs to introduce me to their favorite artist serves as a great icebreaker. Plus, having several hundred students in a room can be very noisy, but students quickly learn that when the music stops it's time to start paying attention. I also have weekly lunches with students. Being able to call even a few students by name in a large lecture format helps personalize the setting.
Despite the large lecture format of Bio 46, multiple strategies are used to promote active learning, higher-level thinking skills, and personal engagement. For several years the Personal Response System was used to allow students to analyze problems as well as the responses of their peers. More routinely, strategies such as 'think-pair-share' are used, as well as team concept maps and group debates.
Movies play a significant role in stimulating student learning by quickly personalizing the AIDS epidemic. Early in the semester the film "A Closer Walk" is shown, which depicts personal stories of the AIDS epidemic in the US, Uganda, Russia, and South Africa. Students are challenged to dig below the different cultural contexts to identify the common social and biological factors that increase the risk of infection. Along with a visit from a person living with AIDS, these experiences set the overarching course motif of identifying causes of local and global disparities in infection, progression to disease, access to treatment, and impact of scientific knowledge.
