Fall
2008
85 first year students enrolled in four essential education courses (Humanities, Composition, Social
Science Inquiry and Integrated Life Science).
This coordinated studies
semester block was taught by four Arts and Sciences
faculty members (Tami Carmichael, English
and Humanities; Carl Barrentine, Humanities
and Biology; Yvette LaPierre, English and
Humanities; Mark Magness, Humanities & Integrated Studies). Steve Finney, Languages, also worked with the faculty, teaching a 2 week unit on language and culture.
Yvonne Holter, our administrative staff person,
made the show go (with the help of our amazing
student employees, Jared, Mandy, and Brandon)!
Theme: "Dangerous Ideas "
Class Meeting Schedule
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
| Thursday
| Friday
|
|
10:00-12:00
Small Group Discussion
|
9:30-12:00 Small Group Discussion
|
10:00-12:00 Small Group Discussion
| 9:30-12:00 Small Group Discussion |
No class |
2:00-4:00 Small Group Discussion |
2:00-4:00 Small Group Discussion
| No class
|
* Students attended classes
Monday-Thursday. Faculty participated in all
class meetings and weekly planning sessions.
Various large and small group meeting formats were used, including:
CLUs, or Cooperative Learning Units, emphasized
individual research investigations. CLUs asked students to think about topics
related to contemporary social issues and events, research information, and bring
their information back to discussion.
Program Meetings were used for teacher- or
student-sponsored mini-lectures, films, large group discussions/activities, guest speakers,
reflections, panel discussions, etc.
Writing Groups were the occasions for more formal
work on writing, although writing occurred in nearly every class meeting. Writing
groups allowed students to work with their peers on revision and editing of papers.
All formal assignments were designed to help students connect their reading,
research, and discussion work in a written form. ISP students normally write
2-3 typed, double-spaced pages each week.
In addition, students wrote a journal reflection every week. In doing this they were asked to use the readings and class discussions as a starting point to think about connections in their lives outside of the classroom.
Seminars, the heart and soul of the program, were used to discuss weekly readings.
Students read about 150-200 pages each week from a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction: novels, plays,
essays, memoirs, etc.
Reading List:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission..., Greg Mortenson
The Varieties of Scientific Experience..., Carl Sagan
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, Charles Seife
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, Janna Levin
Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen
The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind..., Fritjof Capra
Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, John C. Ryan
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour..., Natalie Angier
How Art Made the World..., Nigel Spivey
The U.S. Constitution..., Terry L. Jordan
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit, Daniel Quinn
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy, Jostein Gaarder
Faculty planning meetings (Friday) were devoted to revisiting
the successes and failures of the week, and for planning the upcoming weeks.
Faculty seminars, which were held several times throughout
the semester, are the times when faculty are allowed to be actively involved
in discussing the weekly readings. Faculty often say that knowing they will
have this dedicated time to talk about their own ideas makes it easier for
them to give the students freer rein exploring student ideas, questions,
and perspectives in the seminar discussions.
Fall semesters often include "break out" sessions.
During "break out" times, students are released from much of the regularly scheduled
ISP class meetings and are responsible for meeting a set of goals specific to
the topic. Recent break out sessions have focused on language, music, media, art, and drama.
Evaluation and Assessment: We are required to give course grades
at UND. We do not, however, regularly administer examinations to evaluate our students.
Student participation and performance (oral and written) is monitored daily.
Students complete written self-assessments of their learning experiences on a
regular basis and receive regular written and oral feedback from faculty. At
the middle and end of the term, students participate in exams which vary widely in format. Finally, at the end of the semester, faculty meet as a team to determine grades for each individual
student.
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