a. Student Interest
Over the last three years, faculty members in Psychology, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Computer Science have conducted surveys to determine the degree of student interest in a new program that broadens students' exposure to scientific methods and technology. Two surveys examined interest in a "Cognitive Science" program. The surveys consistently show substantial student interest in a new program in Cognitive Science. The interest is particularly strong among the 820 or so Psychology majors. Since the majority of Psychology majors are women, who traditionally are under-represented in the sciences, a Cognitive Science program will meet our goal of attracting non-traditional students into the study of scientific methodology and technology.
Cognitive Science Minor. In February 1999 we conducted a survey of nine Montclair State University classes. The survey presented a sketch of the proposed minor, and it asked about interest in the minor, interest in graduate school, and gender.
The classes that participated in the survey were in the Departments of Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology (CMPT 183, n = 4; LNGN 210, n = 46; PHIL 290, n = 27; PSYC 203, n = 93; PSYC 290, n = 49). A total of 219 students with majors in all 5 of the schools and colleges at Montclair State University participated. The 219 students who participated in the survey consisted of 170 women and 49 men. The participating students had declared majors as follows: 143 Psychology, 14 Linguistics, 7 English, 6 Computer Science, 6 Business, 5 Political Science, 27 distributed over 15 other majors, and 11 undeclared.
The results of the survey show that:
- 24% of the students who completed the survey would minor in Cognitive Science as it is proposed here.
- 25% of the participated women would minor in Cognitive Science, 22% of the participating men.
- 31% of the students who major in Psychology would minor in Cognitive Science.
- 95% of the students plan on attending graduate school.
- 33% of the students who plan on attending graduate school in a field related to Cognitive Science (Communication Sciences, Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology) would minor in Cognitive Science.
- For those planning on attending graduate school in a field related to Cognitive Science, men have a stronger preference for adding a Cognitive Science minor, 42% to 31%. Numerically, plans for attending a Cognitive Science-related graduate program have a greater impact for women, 34 to 8, because of the greater number of women in our sample.
If we assume that the students who participated in this survey are representative of Psychology, Linguistics, and Natural Science majors, we can estimate the total number of students who would minor in Cognitive Science. Assuming that there are 820 Psychology majors, 50 Linguistics majors, and 1,172 majors in the Natural Sciences, this survey suggests that there would be 254 minors from Psychology, 21 from Linguistics, and 164 from the Natural Sciences. The estimated total of 439 Cognitive Science minors would produce about 110 graduates per year.
This estimate of the number of Cognitive Science minors, however, is too high, especially for Natural Science majors. We tested about 16% of the Psychology majors and about 28% of the Linguistics majors but only about 1% of the Natural Science majors.
The estimate that 31% of Psychology majors are interested in Cognitive Science may be too high as well. An earlier survey found that 24% of Psychology majors, or about 197 Psychology majors, are interested in a Cognitive Science program.
The estimate of 439 Cognitive Science minors, or about 5% of the Montclair State undergraduate population, is also too high when compared with enrollments in Cognitive Science at other colleges and universities, which usually is between 1 and 2% of the total undergraduate population (Stillings, 1993). Assuming Stillings' figure of 1-2% and an estimate of 9,000 undergraduates at Montclair State University, there should be 90-180 minors in Cognitive Science. What is clear from these various estimates is that there is substantial interest in the Cognitive Science Minor, and that most of the students who minor in Cognitive Science will be those who major in Psychology.
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b. Employment
Cognitive Science will be attractive to students who are interested in acquiring skills that are useful in the workplace. Business and industry often apply the computational approach of constructing formal models, and they are interested in hiring graduates who possess computer literacy. Cognitive Science students will learn about the application of computational methods, and they will be able to bridge the gap between the technical and problem solving skills of Computer Science, the analytical skills of statistics and research design, and the communication skills of liberal arts majors. This mix of skills in analysis, communication, and computation will place Cognitive Science graduates in a competitive position to obtain employment in technical training, technical writing, product evaluation, and program evaluation.
In this section we present evidence that students with a minor in Cognitive Science will be successful in obtaining careers. The evidence comes from national surveys of the skills that recruiters value, and from local surveys of companies who often recruit at Montclair State University.
Job Skills. Michigan State University conducted a national survey of recruiters of college graduates to determine the kinds of skills they seek in liberal arts graduates (Scheetz, 1997). An undergraduate program in Cognitive Science provides training in several of these skills. Below is a listing of the desired skills that emerged from this national survey and the courses in a Cognitive Science program that emphasize each desired skill (course titles refer to courses at Montclair State University that are listed in the proposed curriculum in Section 3 below).
"Ability to Learn" is the ability to profit from experience and acquire new skills. The proposed program trains students in the Ability to Learn by requiring advanced courses in several departments, such as Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Communication Sciences, and Philosophy.
"Analysis and Computation" include breaking a complex situation into its component parts, and transforming representations from one form into another. Cognitive Science courses that emphasize these skills are Foundations of Computer Science I & II, Quantitative Methods in Psychology, Introduction to Cognitive Science, Syntax, Experimental Psychology, Natural Language Processing, Assembly Language, Discrete Mathematics, Data Structures and Algorithms, Systems Software, and Artificial Intelligence.
"Computer Skills" includes the ability to write a short program and the ability to use programs for word processing, data analysis and manipulation, graphics preparation, and Internet search. Cognitive Science courses that emphasize Computer Skills are Foundations of Computer Science I & II, Quantitative Methods in Psychology, Introduction to Cognitive Science, Experimental Psychology, Natural Language Processing, Assembly Language, Discrete Mathematics, Data Structures and Algorithms, Systems Software, and Artificial Intelligence.
"Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills" include the ability to work with others and consider the needs and motivations of others. The proposed program requires courses that either examine these abilities or develop them. Cognitive Science courses that emphasize Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills are Experimental Psychology, Seminar in Cognitive Science, Foundations of Computer Science I and II, and Systems Software.
"Written and Oral Communication" is expressing procedures, issues, and research results in a written or oral summary, and an awareness of language structure. Cognitive Science courses that emphasize these skills are Introduction to Cognitive Science, Syntax, Experimental Psychology, Natural Language Processing, Language and Mind, Seminar in Cognitive Science, Semantics, Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics, and Foundations of Computer Science I and II.
Surveys of Local Companies. We have conducted surveys of business and industry in New Jersey to determine employment opportunities for students who graduate with the proposed minor in Cognitive Science. Dr. Jennifer Bragger asked students from the master's program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology to distribute a survey form in the Human Resources office at their places of employment. A copy of the survey form is attached as Appendix 2 (p. 21). In addition, telephone interviews were conducted with the officials at four companies that recruit at Montclair State (Automatic Data Processing, Lucent, Prudential, and Schering-Plough). Among the organizations that have completed either the survey or an interview, there are four in information technology, three in pharmaceuticals, three in health care, two in finance, two in government, two in insurance, one in accounting, and one in consulting.
The survey form asked:
"Would students with a Cognitive Science minor have an advantage in the recruiting process among students you hire from Montclair State University?"
Of the 14 organizations that provided completed surveys, 9 answered "yes," 4 answered "no," and 1 answered "maybe." Perhaps more revealing than the number of responses in each of these categories are some of the respondents' written comments:
"I believe a student with a Cognitive Science minor as you describe it would have a definite advantage in the selection process... I'm a technical writer in the computer telephone industry (now a manager of technical writers) and I absolutely see the relevance and the importance of this minor."
"I do know a lot about the types of jobs held in my company ... as well as the Information Technology field. I would imagine that this program would yield highly marketable skills for graduates and qualify them for many types of jobs in many different industries. It looks fantastic."
In telephone interviews with officials at four organizations, the proposed program was described as it is presented in the Recruiter Survey for Cognitive Science Minor (Appendix 2, p. 21). All four officials spoke favorably about the proposed program. One vice president indicated that graduates with a minor in Cognitive Science might start in an internship program that his company has for preparing college graduates for a permanent position in the company. Another official (from Lucent Technologies) stated the following:
"I think this is a GREAT idea. When I've interviewed people for data communications, web, programming, etc jobs in the past 17 years, I'm always more concerned with their communication skills than their technical skills. Technology changes rapidly. If the candidate has an aptitude to learn (which hopefully they obtained through their college education), they can learn technical skills. Good oral and written communication skills are much harder to teach and it is often too late by the time candidates start their careers. The combination of technical and communication skills is a very valuable commodity. Please keep me posted as you move forward."
The proposed program achieves the fourth objective that appears in Section 1: Provide students with skills that employers value in liberal arts majors: ability to learn, analysis and computation, computer skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills, and written and oral communication.
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3. Educational Program
A minor in Cognitive Science requires six courses (20 credits). Three of the six courses are required for all Cognitive Science minors (Section 3a below), and three are advanced elective courses chosen by the student from the list that appears below (Section 3b). The list of courses below contains the courses in the Cognitive Science Minor, together with the number of credits and pre-requisites for each course. Changes in pre-requisites that are a part of this proposal are marked with an asterisk, and are discussed later in this section. [Pre-requisite changes for PSYC 220 and PSYC 301 are partly due to an independent change in the structure of the Psychology major.]
a. Required For All Minors in Cognitive Science:
PSYC 290 Introduction to Cognitive Science [3]
Pre-requisite: ANTH 100 or CMPT 183 or LNGN 210 or PHIL 100 or PSYC 101
PSYC 220 Quantitative Methods [4]
*Pre-requisite: PSYC 101 or PSYC 290
PSYC 301 Experimental Psychology [4]
*Pre-requisite: PSYC 220 AND either PSYC 203 or PSYC 290
b. Electives in the Cognitive Science Minor
Students select three courses from outside their major. Electives must be from at least two different departments. No more than one Psychology course counts toward the electives in the minor in Cognitive Science:
CMPT 183 Foundations of Computer Science I [3]
Pre-requisite: MATH 112 or high school pre-calculus
CMPT 184 Foundations of Computer Science II [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 183
CMPT 280 Assembly Language and Computer Architecture [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 184 and MATH 221
CMPT 285 Discrete Mathematical Structures [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 183
CMPT 287 Data Structures and Algorithms [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 184 and CMPT 285
CMPT 384 Systems Software [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 280 and CMPT 287
CMPT 388 Foundations of Artificial Intelligence [3]
Pre-requisite: CMPT 384
CS&D 410 Neuro-physiological Bases of Communication [3]
Pre-requisite: senior standing
CS&D 500 Speech and Language Acquisition [3]
Pre-requisite: 112 credits, 2.67 GPA, approved application
to take a graduate course for undergraduate credit
LNGN 300 Syntax [3]
*Pre-requisite: LNGN 210 or permission of department
LNGN 301 Semantics [3]
Pre-requisite: LNGN 300
LNGN 302 Pragmatics [3]
Pre-requisite: LNGN 300
LNGN 380 Natural Language Processing [3]
Pre-requisite: none
LNGN 420 Language and Mind [3]
*Pre-requisite: LNGN 210 or PSYC 290
PHIL 266 Philosophy of Science [3]
Pre-requisite: none
PHIL 270 Philosophy of the Mind [3]
Pre-requisite: none
PSYC 305 Physiological Psychology [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 301
PSYC 308 Perception [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 301
PSYC 313 Cognition [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 301
PSYC 340 Human Learning and Memory [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 301
PSYC 348 Psycholinguistics [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 301
PSYC 490 Seminar in Cognitive Science [3]
Pre-requisite: PSYC 290 and PSYC 301 and one of the following:
PSYC 313 or LNGN 300 or LNGN 380 or LNGN 420
Total Range of Credits: 20
The Cognitive Science minor requires a distribution of courses across at least two departments. Presently, there are courses in five departments that can fulfill this distributional request: Computer Science, Communication Sciences, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology.
The way in which students currently can fulfill the distributional requirement depends on the student's major. For students who major in Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, or Psychology, the three advanced elective courses must be selected from departments outside the student's major. The three advanced electives must be from at least two different departments. Psychology majors are permitted to overlap the three required cognitive science courses with their major courses.
For students with a double major in two of the participating departments, the three advanced electives from Section 3b must be selected from outside both majors.
In order to make this inter-disciplinary course of study available to a broad spectrum of students, the following catalog pre-requisite changes are in process for LNGN 300, LNGN 420, PSYC 220 and PSYC 301. (The changes in pre-requisites for PSYC 220 and PSYC 301 are partly due to a change in the structure of the Psychology major. See Appendix 3, p. 25, for a letter from the Chair of Linguistics supporting the change in pre-requisites for LNGN 300 and LNGN 420).
For LNGN 300 Syntax:
LNGN 210 Introduction to General Linguistics
OR
permission of department
For LNGN 420 Language and Mind:
LNGN 210 Introduction to General Linguistics
OR
PSYC 290 Introduction to Cognitive Science
For PSYC 220 Quantitative Methods in Psychology:
PSYC 101 General Psychology I
OR
PSYC 290 Introduction to Cognitive Science
For PSYC 301 Experimental Psychology
PSYC 220 Quantitative Methods in Psychology,
AND
PSYC 203 General Psychology II or PSYC 290 Introduction to Cognitive Science
Students who satisfy the pre-requisites for PSYC 220 and PSYC 301 with PSYC 290 instead of PSYC 203 and PSYC 101 will not be at a disadvantage, since PSYC 290 introduces students to basic concepts that are the focus of PSYC 220 and PSYC 301: experimental method, independent variable, dependent variable, and correlation.
All other existing catalog pre-requisites will be observed. This will present no difficulty to students who minor in Cognitive Science. For the Communication Sciences courses, senior standing or permission of graduate CS&D advisor is required. For the Computer Science courses, CMPT 183 serves as the entry course, and admission to this course requires that the student has taken precalculus either in high school or in college. For the Linguistics courses in the Cognitive Science program, PSYC 290 will serve as an entry course in place of LNGN 210. For the Philosophy courses, there are no pre-requisites.
(See Appendix 3, p. 22-26, for letters of assurance from the Departments of Communication Sciences, Computer Science, Philosophy and Linguistics.)
The program requires 20 credits if the student has taken one of the entry courses to PSYC 290 Introduction to Cognitive Science. Since each of the entry courses for PSYC 290 fulfill General Education Requirements (ANTH 100, CMPT 183, LNGN 210, PHIL 100, PSYC 101), we expect that many Montclair State students will have completed one of these courses early in their college program. If a student has not completed one of these entry courses, the Cognitive Science Minor will require 23 credits. If a student wishes to complete the distributional requirement for the Minor in Computer Science but has not taken pre-calculus in high school, the student must take MATH 112 Precalculus Mathematics prior to CMPT 183 Foundations of Computer Science I. Sample programs appear in Appendix 4 (p. 27).
There are three mechanisms by which students can gain research experience. First, students who major in Psychology, Linguistics, Philosophy or Computer Science may take independent study (PSYC 491, LNGN 478, PHIL 447, CMPT 497) as part of their major. A second means of obtaining research experience is for students who major in Psychology or Computer Science to take the honors seminar within their department (PSYC 495, PSYC 496, CMPT 490). A third means of obtaining library research experience is to take PSYC 490 Seminar in Cognitive Science, which is an elective in the Cognitive Science minor. We expect that most of the student research in Cognitive Science will occur in PSYC 490 Seminar in Cognitive Science.
The proposed program fulfills the objectives that were stated in Section 1:
- Provide a curriculum that engages a broad spectrum of students in scientific method and technology...
- Make use of available faculty resources to strengthen the pedagogical foundations of science and technology...
- Provide students with an empirical approach to questions about psychology, linguistics, and philosophy, and appropriate experiences in research settings including psychology laboratory work, linguistic analysis, and computational modeling.
- Provide students with skills that employers value.
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4. Students
The minor in Cognitive Science will serve students seeking careers in data representation, analysis, and retrieval; technical writing and training; and telecommunications. Based on the 31% level of interest among Psychology majors (see Section 2) and an estimate of 150 graduates per year in Psychology, we expect that about 46 Psychology majors will graduate with a minor in Cognitive Science each year. Because of the smaller number of majors in related disciplines, we expect fewer minors in Cognitive Science from Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy.
Cognitive Science students will include students who begin their college career at Montclair State University, transfer students from community colleges, and individuals already working in business. Since a Cognitive Science program will be unique among public teaching institutions, we expect that a minor in Cognitive Science will attract other students to Montclair State University specifically for the minor in Cognitive Science. (The only undergraduate Cognitive Science programs currently in New Jersey are a minor at Rutgers University, a public research university (Appendix 5, p. 31), and a Cognitive Studies major at Princeton University, a private research university. Course descriptions for Rutgers can be found here, and for Princeton, here.
The student surveys that were reported in Section 2 demonstrated substantial interest and excitement about the grouping of Cognitive Science courses into a formal program. Since a majority of Psychology and Linguistics majors are female, a Cognitive Science program will be a useful means of attracting women into the study of technology (see George, 1996). A Cognitive Science minor will increase the number of Psychology students who take courses in Computer Science and Linguistics, and it will increase the number of Linguistics students who take courses in Computer Science and Psychology.
The proposed curriculum will fulfill our object of engaging a broader spectrum of students than those that traditionally seek education in science and technology.
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5. Faculty
Faculty members from the Psychology and Linguistics Departments of Montclair State University have developed the inter-disciplinary minor in Cognitive Science with the assistance of faculty members in Computer Science and Communication Sciences. The proposed program includes courses that are taught by faculty in the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, and Computer Science.
The Linguistics Department consists of 7 permanent faculty, all of whom possess a Ph.D. degree. Approximately 5 of these faculty members teach courses in areas related to Cognitive Science. Faculty areas of expertise relevant to Cognitive Science include natural language processing, syntax, psycholinguistics, reading, second language learning, semantics and pragmatics.
There are 31 full-time faculty members of the Psychology Department; 28 hold a Ph.D. in Psychology. Approximately 9 of these faculty members teach courses in areas related to Cognitive Science. Faculty expertise related to Cognitive Science includes cognition, human learning and memory, perception, psycholinguistics, neuroscience, social cognition, research design, statistics, animal behavior, experimental technology, and cognitive science.
There are 9 full-time faculty members in the Department of Communication Sciences. All 9 faculty members hold the Ph.D. Faculty expertise that is relevant for Cognitive Science includes neuroscience, language acquisition, speech pathology, and learning disabilities.
There are 11 full-time faculty members in the Department of Computer Science. All hold the Ph.D. Faculty expertise that is related to Cognitive Science includes assembly language, computer architecture, data structures, algorithms, discrete mathematics, systems software, and artificial intelligence.
There are 4 full-time Philosophy faculty members in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. All hold the Ph.D. Faculty expertise that is related to Cognitive Science includes philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, informal logic, and computer-assisted instruction.
The proposed curriculum for Cognitive Science achieves our objective of using available faculty resources to strengthen the pedagogical foundations of science and technology in undergraduate education.
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11. Administration
This proposal is a collaborative effort that involves faculty members in the departments that participate in Cognitive Science.
Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary minor housed in the Department of Psychology and administered by the Department of Psychology. All participating faculty will remain in their home departments. In addition to the Coordinator (see below), the participating departments -- Psychology, Linguistics, Computer Science, Communications Sciences and Philosophy -- will each propose a member to serve on a Steering Committee for the new minor. The Deans of the colleges that provide resources to the minor, namely the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Mathematics, will approve the members of the Steering Committee from their respective colleges.
The Steering Committee will deal with matters such as admission, governance, standards, scheduling, recruitment, advisement, and curriculum. Authorization for a student to add Cognitive Science as a minor will be given by the Cognitive Science Steering Committee. It is the responsibility of the Steering Committee to determine whether students have satisfied the requirements of the minor and to provide the Registrar with a list of students who have done so.
One of the Steering Committee members from Psychology will be designated as "Coordinator" of the minor in Cognitive Science. The Coordinator will be the signator for official University business. Released time for coordinating the program is consistent with comparable programs and with union guidelines (to be negotiated with the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences).
An Advisory Board for the minor in Cognitive Science will consist of all faculty members who teach courses in the minor. The Advisory Board will meet periodically to evaluate the program and suggest changes in it.
The program's structure will be re-evaluated after AY 2002.
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References
Cass-Liepmann, J. (1996). Cass and Birnbaum's guide to American colleges, 17th ed. New York: Harper.
George, M. D. (1996). Shaping the Future: New Expectations for Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology. Washington, D.C.: National Science Foundation.
Princeton University. (June 24, 1999a). Cognitive Studies Description [On-line]. Available: here.
Princeton University. (June 24, 1999b). Program in Cognitive Studies [On-line]. Available: here.
Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. (June 24, 1999a). Graduate Certificate [On-line]. Available: here.
Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. (June 24, 1999b). Undergraduate Minor [On-line]. Available: here.
Rutgers Psychology. (June 24, 1999a). The Courses in Cognitive Science & Perception [On-line]. Available: here.
Rutgers Psychology. (June 24, 1999b). The Graduate Program (On-line]. Available: here.
Scheetz, L. P. (1997). Recruiting Trends, 1997-1998: A National Study of Job Market Trends for New College Graduates among 477 Businesses, Industries, and Governmental Agencies. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University.
Stillings, N. (1993). Undergraduate Education in Cognitive Science: Current Status and Future Prospects. Report of a Planning Workshop for the National Science Foundation. [On-line]. Available: here.
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