Important changes of the MIT curriculum

Inside Higher Ed.

"Currently at MIT, all students take nine courses in their general science requirement. Six courses are identical for everyone: two semesters of calculus, two semesters of physics, one semester of chemistry, and one semester of biology. There is no menu within those courses — the same material is covered for everyone. The remaining three courses consist of a laboratory course and two science electives.

In its place, the new plan would halve the required common courses to: single variable calculus, multivariable calculus, and mechanics. Then students would pick five courses from a category of six broad subjects: chemical sciences, computation and engineering, life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, and courses focused on “project based experiences.” These categories would each get several course offerings that could meet the requirement. The courses would not be identical, but all would essentially be introductions to broad fields of study. For instance, within physics, one course might focus on electricity and magnetism and another on waves, Stewart said.

In their 158-page report, committee members made clear that for science education, the idea of a core in which everyone takes the same subjects may retain its popularity, but may not be workable. Committee members reported that professors believe in the core, and that many had subject areas — such as probability and statistics, neuroscience and algorithmic reasoning — that they thought should be added. The committee also noted that common cores tend to be disciplinary, and many emerging fields in science aren’t.

“When knowledge grows, a natural temptation is to take the easy route by simply piling new requirements on top of the old,” the report says. “However as we have heard time and again, the MIT curriculum is already bursting at the seams. Therefore, we are faced with the need to provide for greater coverage of ‘fundamental science’ within the core curriculum without increasing the footprint of the science requirement within the four years at MIT.”

El informe completo del MIT.