"In my opinion, the primary aim of any undergraduate
introductory science course - whether in biology, chemistry,
physics, or earth sciences - should be to enable students to
appreciate and participate in science as a special way of
knowing about the world". Our goal as teachers and educators
should be to expose our students to the discovery process and to
excite them about challenges at the frontiers of knowledge." "I
conclude that it is way past time for us to completely redesign
our undergraduate introductory science courses, so that all
students come into direct contact with science as inquiry and
are forced to develop their own understanding of what science
is, and what it is not". Bruce Alberts, ASM President, 1998,
Cell 92, 291-294. These words addressed to educators by Bruce
Alberts over a decade ago are, if anything, more important today
(1). Of students entering our nations colleges and universities
about half drop out of school, and of those who remain, about
half change their major at least once.