With plans for three green roofs and a courtyard landscape with native plants and
an onsite drainage system, the ISE Lab was constructed following the standards of
the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver designation. Significant investment
was made in environmentally friendly products, equipment and design standards.
Classrooms will include the latest in
educational technology and mobile
furniture to facilitate group or individual
work, none holding more than 48 students.
Four problem-based learning laboratories
adjoin the classrooms so students can
discuss a problem and immediately test a
solution.
This facility brings together students and
faculty from departments and disciplines
across UD to teach, learn and conduct
research in a collaborative environment,
with the goal that ISE Lab will engage
students and stimulate excitement about
science and engineering.
With faculty appointments in biology,
mathematics and bioinformatics, Professor
John Jungck is UD's new director of
interdisciplinary science instruction, tasked
with coordinating ISE Lab's teaching and
learning initiatives.
"We built the building, now we want to
build a community," said Jungck. "The
expectation is that with a different kind of
environment, we have new opportunities."
"My job is to encourage interest and
excitement across disciplines about
teaching and learning in this facility, in a
new context, a more open and engaging
setting," continued Jungck. "Many
traditional classrooms can be a bit like
isolated walled kingdoms. A lecture class
takes place in one location; and the
corresponding lab may take place in a
completely different location. We're trying
to bring those communities together."
For undergraduate students, the ISE Lab
experience will include more problembased
learning integrated with classroom
teaching, and more classes with a
multidisciplinary focus. Classes from any
academic department can be held in the
ISE Lab.
For example, first-year science and
mathematics education majors at UD will
soon have the option to engage in an
integrated seven-credit course that
combines elements of math, science,
technology and communication. Funded
by a grant from the National Science
Foundation, the course will utilize ISE Lab
classrooms designed specifically for the
kinds of problem-based learning that will
distinguish this new curriculum. [Read the UDaily article.]
For graduate students, the goal is that
with teaching and research all taking place
in the ISE Lab, they will have the
opportunity to become part of a larger
research and teaching community.
"Traditionally, graduate students in the
sciences can sometimes be caught in a 'grad
grind,' working many hours a week in labs
or at teaching—in addition to their own
academic pursuits—in relatively isolated
environments," said Jungck.
By contrast, the ISE Lab was designed to
foster community, with shared, open work
spaces for graduate students, large lobby
areas and group study rooms. Large-screen
monitors will broadcast actual projects in
progress from ISE Lab's specialized research
facilities.
Many graduate students are also
interested in a future teaching career.
Jungck is collaborating with UD's Institute
for Transforming Undergraduate Education,
to explore ways that the University can
expand teaching resources and training for
graduate students, especially in the area of
problem-based learning.
Construction on the ISE Lab facility should
be completed this summer, with a grand
opening slated to occur on Oct. 3.
Jungck summarized, "With this new
facility, and the community we hope to
create, this is an incredible opportunity to
build something fresh and interesting, that
will serve both undergraduate and
graduate students really well."
Article by Nora Riehl Zelluk and Andrea Boyle Tippett
