Impediments to Providing Scientific Literacy to Students in Introductory Survey Courses

The high-enrollment survey courses in which many college students receive their introduction to science tend to be impersonal because of their size and the manner in which they are taught. Presentation of factual material, a lack of hands-on activities, and assessment with multiple-choice tests convince many students that science consists of lists of facts to be memorized. There are significant cultural differences between these courses and those offered for science majors, differences which make it unlikely that the average student will develop any degree of scientific literacy. The ability to take material one has learned and extend it in some way cannot be expected of the majority of those taking the survey courses because little high-level cognitive activity is stimulated in these courses. Careful analysis of what we actually do in survey courses is the first step to finding ways to improve the intellectual activities in which the students are engaged.