Science Internationalization Projects at UW-Madison

The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates supports the internationalization of science curriculum at UW-Madison.
Read about science internationalization opportunities here.

 

2011 Science Internationalization Course Development Projects, Round 2

Integration of International Scientific Research and Exchange of Multiple Cultural Perspectives to Meet the Challenges of Avian Conservation
Course(s) impacted: Animal Sciences/Zoology 520: Ornithology; Animal Sciences/Zoology 521: Birds of Southern Wisconsin; and a new course, Animal Sciences 375: Advanced Topics in Ornithology
Project head(s): Mark E. Berres (Animal Sciences)
Project: To support the development of a new undergraduate course in ornithology and to support creation and course integration of a case study of the critically endangered Montserrat Oriole. The newly developed course, Animal Sciences 375: Advance Topics in Ornithology, will provide a seminar of undergraduates with in-depth exposure to a specific avian conservation research topic, that of the critically endangered Montserrat Oriole. Using audio data recorded on the island of Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles, students will analyze the specific calls, communicate with the scientific research staff at the Montserrat Division of Environment (DoE) and with key members of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and then map distributional trends using GIS software. Ultimately students will make conservation recommendations taking into account, among other things, the unique culture found on Montserrat. These students will then create a 50-minute, multimedia-rich synopsis of the project and present it during one regularly scheduled lecture to students enrolled in Animal Sciences/Zoology 520 and 521.
Global learning outcomes: A strategic outcome from these interactions will be an ability to identify—and accommodate—differences in the way researchers from three different countries work together toward a common goal.

Integration of Global Issues in the Animal Sciences Classroom: Reproductive Physiology
Course(s) impacted: Animal Sciences 434: Reproductive Physiology
Project head(s): John Parrish (Animal Sciences)
Project: To develop and integrate a series (between 6 and 12) of case studies that focus on agricultural and wildlife management in Mexico for Animal Sciences 434: Reproductive Physiology. Two to four case studies will be developed based on situations in Mexico in each of these three subjects: endocrinology, control of female cycles, and problems during pregnancy. Real life cases are being developed in cooperation with experts in Mexican agriculture and wildlife management. Cases will be presented in Spanish to simulate direct communication with someone in Mexico. Using translation software, students will take into account social and economic conditions to solve the cases. They will then make a website and podcast of their solution to present to the class.
Global learning outcomes: The global learning outcomes of the proposed work are to increase: 1) critical thinking skills and application to solving problems related to a foreign country; 2) communication skills and, in particular, strategies to communicate in a language other than English, and; 3) appreciation of ethical issues in global agriculture and wildlife management as they relate to reproduction manipulation. The overall impacts we expect to have on students include: 1) understanding how theory applies to application in the novel environment of a new culture and ethical system; 2) empathy with individuals that have differences based on cultural ethnicity, and 3) development of human capacity for competitiveness in global agriculture.

International Food Security and Environmental Conservation in Botany and Plant Pathology
Course(s) impacted: Plant Pathology/Botany 123: Plants, Parasites, and People; a new 3-cr., 500-level course cross listed between the departments of Botany and Plant Pathology
Project head(s): Caitilyn Allen (Plant Pathology)
Project: To support the development of a new three-credit, 500-level course that will be cross listed between the departments of Botany and Plant Pathology. The course will examine the tension between agriculture and the conservation of environmental resources by using case studies from the American Midwest and Guatemala. The class will meet jointly via videoconferencing with an equivalent course offered at the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC). These weekly 90-minute class sessions will be followed with a field trip in Guatemala with the partner class from USAC.
The course will be team-taught with UW-Madison Professors Caitilyn Allen (Plant Pathology) and Don Waller (Botany) and Professor José Pablo Prado (Agronomy) at the USAC. Professor Prado will be a Tinker Fellow through UW-Madison’s Latin American Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) program from January 2012 to June 2012.
Global learning outcomes: Students will: 1) develop critical thinking skills at the interface of biology, policy, and culture; 2) learn specific content about crop production and conservation biology in the developing tropics; 3) appreciate the universal and culture-specific aspects of these topics, and; 4) gain familiarity with the complex mixture of human cultures and natural and manmade landscapes in Latin America.

The Internationalization of Food Sciences as UW-Madison
Course(s) impacted: Food Science 201: Careers in Food Science; Food Science 321: Food Law and Regulations; and development of a new course, Food Science 375: Food and Culture: An Exploration of the Social Implications of a Global Food Supply
Project head(s): Monica Theis (Food Science)
Project: To support course revisions that integrate concepts of global awareness into two entry-level Food Science courses and to develop a new course that provides food science undergraduates with an international travel experience.
Beginning in spring 2012, Food Science 201: Careers in Food Science and Food Science 321: Food Law and Regulations will provide students with a broader understanding of the profession of food science by situating domestic practice within a global context. Issues addressed in the two courses will include: the role of the food scientist in multinational companies, the importance of global awareness, food safety, trade, and marketing.
Also in spring 2012, a new course, Food Science 375: Food and Culture: An Exploration of the Social Implications of a Global Food Supply, will introduce students to sociocultural issues and their influence on the profession of food science from a global perspective. Potential topics will include immigration, hunger, food security, and food rituals, traditions, and health. Activities will include trips to local markets and restaurants, learning from visiting speakers, and “chef-in-the-classroom” culinary adventures.
Students in Food Science 375 will also have the option to travel to central Mexico to learn more about the agricultural and food industries there.
Global learning outcomes: Course offerings and travel opportunities will provide students with the opportunity to: 1) understand the field of food science within the global context and compare application of food science in the U.S. with other countries; 2) identify and explore political, economic, and social issues, trends, and processes common to the food industry and food systems throughout the world, and; 3) compare the work of a food scientist from the U.S. with a peer in a different country.


2011 Science Internationalization Course Development Projects, Round 1



Strengthening Undergraduate Environmental Studies with International Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation
Course(s) impacted: Environmental Studies 600: Large Carnivore Conservation in Wisconsin and around the World; Environmental Studies 651: Conservation Biology; Botany/Zoology/Environmental Studies 260: Introduction to Ecology
Project head(s): Adrian Treves (Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies)
Project: To develop and integrate international, comparative case studies into three undergraduate courses that focus on ecology and the conservation of biodiversity. Case studies will illuminate cultural differences in the meaning and use of wildlife, carnivore conservation, assumptions about indigenous stewardship, etc. Project also entails the expansion of an online learning simulation of wolf hunting in Wisconsin to include Sweden as a comparative case.
Global learning outcomes: "My desired global learning outcomes are to help our undergraduates become informed citizens of the world who can place U.S. environmental problems in a global context and devise wiser, more sustainable solutions by translating and combining insights from many regions to create novel solutions to environmental problems. Such intellectual and creative capacities will demand familiarity with events, systems, successes, and failures in other countries. In the course of such instruction and mentorship, I expect undergraduates and my mentees to gain a better understanding of how science is done in other countries."


Science for a World Lived in Common
Course(s) impacted: Integrated Liberal Studies 251, 252, and 253: Science Illuminated
Project head(s): Basil Tikoff (Geoscience); Cathy Middlecamp (Chemistry)
Project: To support the syllabi redesign and develop new teaching materials that internationalize the three-course integrated science sequence entitled “Science Illuminated,” with concentration on the final course “Predicting the Future.” The international content in the courses include: 1) How cultural differences are (and are not) reflected in scientific inquiry; and 2) How effects of major predicted global changes (climate change, species loss) vary worldwide, and how these unequal effects result in differences in perspective on scientific issues.
Global learning outcomes: Students will: 1) gain an appreciation of the way science and scientific predictions are treated in different societies; 2) assess how global phenomenon (e.g. global warming) have different physical, biological, and social effects in different regions; 3) understand how and why international scientific collaboration works so effectively; and 4) learn examples in which scientists in different parts of the world pursue different scientific goals or approaches.


Internationalizing Nutrition Education Counseling
Course(s) impacted: Nutritional Sciences 522: Nutrition Education and Counseling
Project head(s): Lynette Karls (Nutritional Science)
Project: To research and develop an entirely new one-credit course that will be required for all Dietetics majors. The course on education and counseling will integrate cultural competencies in regards to racial, ethnic, and international communities.
Global learning outcomes: One of the major aspects of this course is to provide students with cultural competence as nutrition educators and counselors. Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enable effective work in cross-cultural situations.


Strengthening the International Component of the Course Cooperatives, Agricultural and Applied Economics 323
Course(s) impacted: Agricultural and Applied Economics 323: Cooperatives
Project head(s): Anne Reynolds (Center for Cooperatives and Agricultural and Applied Economics)
Project: To research and develop a two-week classroom module on cooperatives in Costa Rica to be integrated into a course on the management and development of cooperatives. The module will allow for a comparison of policy, democratic traditions, and the economic environment in the development of cooperatives in U.S. and Costa Rica.
Global learning outcomes: Students will: 1) gain an understanding of the linkages between U.S. and global cooperatives; and 2) gain an understanding the comparative context of cooperative development and success. This includes governmental politics, the economic environment, and democratic traditions.


FIGS: Global Food Security
Course(s) impacted: Plant Pathology 375: Global Food Security (First-year Interest Group)
Project head(s): Jeri Barak (Plant Pathology); Suzanne Dove (CIBER)
Project: To host two visiting international experts to speak about international the aspects of global food security. The first speaker will address the global impact of rising food prices. The second will represent a U.S. agribusiness company and will discuss public-private partnerships to help achieve sustainable agricultural development in world regions.
Global learning outcomes: Students will: 1) gain an understanding of the role of the science of food and agriculture in the context of agricultural development; 2) learn the trends and systems that drive the complex global food chain. By the end of the course students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the cause of global food insecurity; awareness of the public, private, and not-for-profit organizations engaged in this problem; and recognition of possible solutions to food insecurity.


Engage Children in Science: International Experience
Course(s) impacted: Biology 375: Engage Children in Science
Project head(s): Catherine Woodward (Institute for Biology Education); Dolly Ledin (Institute for Biology Education)
Project: To research and develop a new section of the “Engage Children in Science” course that will provide students with a four-week summer service-learning experience in Ecuador. Students will extend and improve science education in the Manabi province while enhancing their global awareness and gaining an international perspective on science and science education.
Global learning outcomes: Students will: 1) gain an understanding of global environmental systems, issues, processes, and how they impact local environmental and science education; 2) demonstrate an appreciation for the impact of cultural/societal differences on scientific understanding; 3) apply and adapt knowledge of prior STEM coursework and research to science inquiry-based teaching in an international context; 4) learn to use strategies appropriate for meeting the learning needs of diverse audiences in a global context; 5) gain cultural sensitivity and leadership skills; 6) assess student learning in science within the local social and environmental context; 7) use reflective writing and community engagement to connect one's individual science studies to one's life and to the global community; 8) demonstrate understanding of the similarities and differences between the U.S. and rural Ecuador in pressing scientific problems and processes, content knowledge, and science teaching and learning.


Integrating International Experiences into Mechanical Engineering 363, Fluid Dynamics Course
Course(s) impacted: Mechanical Engineering 363: Fluid Dynamics
Project head(s): John Pfotenhauer (Mechanical Engineering); R.L. Engelstad (Mechanical Engineering)
Project: To establish a summer session course in fluid dynamics for UW–Madison engineering undergraduates at the University of Agder in Grimstad, Norway. This program has as its model a similar summer session mechanical engineering course presently taught in China and will prompt students to recognize the similar and distinct ways in which their international peers approach engineering problems.
Global learning outcomes: Students will recognize the similar and distinct ways in which their international peers approach engineering problems, and the ways in which the local necessity for, and application of, the engineering skills are alike and different from those in the United States.


Helping Students Discover Trans-National Issues in Sustainable Rural Development, Food Systems, and Poverty Alleviation with an Emphasis on Interdependencies
Course(s) impacted: Dairy Science 375: Agriculture in Emerging Economies: Dairying in Mexico; Inter-Ag 155: Issues in Agriculture, Environment, and Life Sciences; Inter-Ag 165: Introduction to International Issues in Agricultural & Life Sciences
Project head(s): Michel Wattiaux (Dairy Science)
Project: To research and develop comparative case studies of Mexican and Wisconsin dairy farming that will be developed as online, multi-media rich, interactive learning materials. Case studies will be integrated into three different courses, engaging a range of students in an in-depth comparative analysis of social, economic, and environmental indicators of sustainability using scientific integrative tools.
Global learning outcomes: Students will be expected to demonstrate an increased awareness and understanding of: 1) contrasting roles and contributions of livestock agriculture in Mexico and the U.S.; 2) the interdependencies that exist in agriculture between Mexico and the U.S.; 3) the role and position of the U.S. in agriculture around the world. They will also gain: 1) an increased ability for integrative learning and an appreciation of the scientific tools used in different countries to assess the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, including indicators of human and animal health; 2) a capacity for inquiry, analysis, and problem solving in sustainable agriculture, and; 3) higher levels of motivation and interest in seeking out additional opportunities to engage further in studies (and experiential learning) of international agricultural issues.

International Careers in Community Nutrition
Course(s) impacted: Nutritional Sciences 200/Food Science 200: Professions of Dietetics and Nutrition
Project head(s): Betsy Kelly (Nutritional Sciences)
Project: To produce a video on the international experiences that three nutritional scientists have had in Cambodia, Guatemala, and Ecuador. The goal of the video is to highlight the ways in which these professionals’ international experiences have contributed to their careers and enhanced their understanding of nutritional sciences more generally. The video will be available online on a professional development Web site and UW-Madison undergraduate students will access it as part of a larger project that demonstrates the various careers available to graduates of the program.