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Context andRationale for

anUndergraduate

ScienceCurriculum

Natural & Systems Sciences

Aga Khan UniversityFaculty of Arts and Sciences, EA

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The East African Context

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Forest conversion andexpansion humanse3lement on steep long

slopes

Land slides in Mt Elgon

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Deforesta;on of headwaters

Land degrada;on and sediment loading in the rivers

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Lake Victoria

Sediment plume (40-80 Km long)

Socio-ecological Collapse

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

1968 1973 1978 1983 1988

C a t c

h ( t

o n s

)

Year

Tilapine

Haplochromine

R.argentea

L.nilo@ca

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Hydro Politics/Conflict

Rainfall in the lake basin declined by10-15 % in therecent years

Egypt and Sudan noware entitled to 55.5

billion cm 3 annually Decline dry season baseflow and increasedsediment loading in allmajor riversA 2nd hydropower

plant, decline in lakelevels. Compliancewith the agreedcurve

Population of Egypt,Ethiopia and Sudan willincrease from 150M to 340Mby 2050

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Climate Change Hot Spots

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The East African Commons: Transboundary Resources

T h e G r e a t La k e s

Socio-Ecological Corridors Biological memory (resilience) Epidemiology

o HIV/AIDS (Lake Victoria Basin; epicenter)o zoono@c diseases (RVF)

Diffusion of innova@on (Bicycle/motorcycle)

Hierarchical systems (Spa@al/Ins@tu@onal) Mul@ple agent networks Mul@ple ins@tu@onal regimes

o State (policy/jurisdic@on)o Non state (markets/innova@on/knowledge)

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Science, Engineering and Policy Solu;ons

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Reduc;onist Approaches to Problems

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Science, Engineering and Policy Solu;ons

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Proposed Science Degree Programmes

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Integra@on through planned porosity

NSS DEBA

SSH

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Problem-based learning Present students with contextualized, ill-structured

problems and challenge them to nd meaningfulsolu@ons:

Engage curiosity and ini@ate self-directed learning;

Prepare students to think cri@cally and analy@cally;synthesize rather than assimilate content; integrateknowledge;

Develop an a tude of collabora@on, inquiry, informa@ongathering, evalua@on of evidence and reec@on;

Simulate methods of resolving problems in life and career.

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Curriculum Delivery Ques@on-and-answer dialec@cal approach of and

Plato and Socrates

Hegelian thesisan@thesissynthesis dialec@c

Metacogni@on (learning about learning)

o What is known about the problem?

o What needs to be known?

o What requires more learning?

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Career Opportuni@es Graduate School

Faculty Research Laboratories

Industry (Agriculture, Manufacturing, Energy, Mining Medical) Research Development Entrepreneurs

Local/Regional Public Service

Interna@onal Development/Conserva@on Organiza@ons

Teachers (High school, Middle level Colleges)

Science Communica@on

Public Policy

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Issues

High School science curriculum are different Tanzania and Uganda have an A-level (two

years a er O-level Kenya has an O-level curriculum Rwanda and Burundi

Implica@ons on the content of the founda@on

courses, especially math Exemp@ons (credits) or preparatory curriculum?

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Thank You