Calvin News

On March 24, 1999 the New York Times ran a piece called "It's Spring, and New Science Centers Are Abloom on Campuses." Writer William H. Honan took a look at a trend on college campuses across the country -- a trend that will come to full fruition at Calvin College on October 2-23. In fact, much of what the Times story says applies to Calvin's new DeVries Hall -- including such factors as Sputnik, aging buildings and more undergraduate research. Here is how that New York Times story began:
The last great science building boom on American campuses came in the late 1950's and early 60's, when the nation was desperate to catch up with the Soviet Union in the race into space. (Remember Sputnik?) 
Today, new science centers are once again sprouting like high-tech crocuses at colleges and universities from Barnard to Caltech. 
Jeanne L. Narum, an education consultant in Washington who is an expert on undergraduate science teaching, estimates that $2 billion to $3 billion is being spent this year on new construction, renovation or planning for science centers at 1,000 campuses. 
The story then looked at why this boom was taking place:
The reasons for the building boom are many, but the most straightforward is that old science buildings were becoming obsolete. 
''We found that if you're going to strengthen the learning environment, you can't put new projects into old wine skins,'' Ms. Narum said. ''Many of the post-Sputnik buildings were, to put it mildly, inadequate.'' Some buildings were crumbling or unsafe, she said, and many lacked enough space for computers. 
But beyond their physical limitations, the old buildings are proving unfit for the way science is taught today. Educators and administrators say science teaching has undergone a revolution in the four decades since Sputnik. The line between disciplines has blurred: much research involves not simply physics, chemistry or biology, but collaboration among the three. Even undergraduates are expected to do their own research. 
''Undergraduate students are now conducting experiments and doing things close to the cutting edge that in the past could be done only by practicing scientists -- like measuring levels of pesticides found on the fruit that they buy in the local grocery store,'' said Jim Swartz, dean of the college at Grinnell College in Iowa, which recently opened a $15.5 million renovated science center.
The story concluded with a look at the future of science.
But Ms. Narum, the science teaching consultant, expects the boom to continue. In 1989, she founded Project Kaleidoscope, a network of colleges and universities interested in improving undergraduate science teaching. The group uses money from the National Science Foundation to organize meetings and workshops for colleges and universities eager to pick up tips on how to develop improved spaces for science. ''The people I bump into at these workshops and conferences,'' Ms. Narum said, ''are taking very seriously the work of shaping the future.''