Cathryn Manduca, director of Carleton College’s Science Education Research Center (SERC), has co-authored Earth and Mind II, a geology textbook that explores the distinctive ways geoscientists perceive, analyze, and explain the workings of the earth system. The book addresses topics such as thinking about space, time, natural systems, and the importance of fieldwork for teaching and learning.

The Carleton College Orchestra will celebrate the conclusion of the academic year with a performance in the Concert Hall on Friday, May 25 at 8 p.m. Designed to showcase the many musical talents of the graduating class of 2012, this concert is free and open to the public.

Discipline-based education research (DBER) has generated insights that could help improve undergraduate education in science and engineering, but these findings have not yet prompted widespread changes in teaching practice, says a new report from the National Research Council. Science and engineering faculty, institutions, disciplinary societies, and professional societies should all support high-quality DBER and the adoption of the evidence-based teaching strategies that have emerged from it, the report says. Susan Singer, the Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences at Carleton, chaired this research effort

Two of Carleton's club Ultimate teams, Gods of Plastic (GoP) and Eclipse, are representing Carleton at the 2012 USA Ultimate D3 Collegiate Nationals this weekend in Appleton, Wis. Eclipse is the defending women's champion, while GoP attempts to reclaim the title it won in 2010 before moving to D1 in 2011. We have links to each team's Twitter feed and to live scoring on USA Ultimate's website.

The acclaimed Carleton College Chinese Music Ensemble will perform in concert Sunday, May 20 at 3 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The performance will feature Chinese classical, folk, silk and bamboo, percussion and minority music. This year’s spring concert will also feature traditional Temple music. This event is free and open to the public.

Carleton College’s senior studio art majors will present their culminating works in the College’s Senior Art Show opening Friday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Perlman Teaching Museum at the Weitz Center for Creativity. The art show—entitled “Untitled (for reasons)”—opens with a special reception with the students, who will be on-hand to discuss their work. Admittance to the reception and to the Perlman Teaching Museum is free and open to the public.

Carleton College vocalists will have an opportunity to shine in a concert Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The concert, entitled “Let’s Dance!,” will showcase an eclectic range of music about dance, featuring the Carleton Choir (both the Men’s Chorus and Bella Cantemus) and the Carleton Singers. Lawrence Burnett, a professor of music and choral director at Carleton, will conduct. This event is free and open to the public.

Visiting professor and esteemed philosopher Kendall Walton will present “Thoughtwriting – in Poetry and Music” on Tuesday, May 15 at 12 p.m. in Leighton Hall Room 305 on the Carleton College campus. This presentation is free and open to the public.

In conjunction with Carleton College’s symposium on Sephardic cultures (the culture of the Jews of Spain who, following their expulsion from the kingdom in 1492, fled to Turkey and Morocco), Isaac Azose, the cantor at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle and an expert on Sephardic prayer and song, will give a lecture and demonstration at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15 in the Gould Library Athenaeum. This event is free and open to the public.