McMaster Integrated Science

Honours Integrated Science Program

Established	2009
Director	Dr. Carolyn Eyles
Undergraduates	80
Location	Hamilton , ON , Canada
Website	Integrated Science

The Honours Integrated Science Program (also known as iSci) is a highly exclusive and innovative program in the Faculty of Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. It has an interdisciplinary teaching staff from the sciences and emphasizes scientific literacy and research-oriented learning. Upper year students can concentrate their studies in one of eleven disciplines such as biophysics and chemistry to complete the equivalent credits of a standard university honours course.

Curriculum

McMaster Integrated Science is a four-year undergraduate program that offers 66 units of iSci courses (out of a total of 120 required to graduate). Electives can be taken to complete the necessary units for a concentration or minor in an area outside the faculty of science. The classes specific to iSci are in the form XAYY like all McMaster courses, where X is the year and YY is the number of units. Its courses are 1A24, 2A18, 3A12 and 4A12.

Students learn to integrate concepts and methods from different disciplines (i.e. physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, psychology, and earth science) in standard lecture format and research module-oriented learning. By adopting the scientific method, these long-term projects encourage integrated science students to develop formal scientific writing styles, professional citation habits, perspective, and a broad understanding of scientific experiments and use of experimental data. Standard module format combines dossier writing with hands-on laboratory experiments and relevant presentations by visiting scientists and businessmen.

Starting in second year, students can select a "concentration". Concentrations allow students to choose a specific scientific discipline to take courses in throughout their second, third, and fourth year studies. Courses offered in concentrations are taken alongside iSci courses and so are taken in addition to research projects. The complete list of concentrations is as follows:

• Physics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Mathematics
• Biochemistry
• Chemical Biology
• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Geography
• Biophysics
• Medical Physics
• Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behavior

External links

• A New Approach to Science Education for the 21st Century
• Eliminating the research and teaching divide: McMaster University’s iSci program
• Science that Sizzles
• Globe and Mail Article