Active learning: Does it work anywhere? Can it work at Wooster?

A brief sampling of the literature about active learning and its effectiveness will be presented by Dean Fraga (Biology). This will be followed by Judy Amburgey Peters (Chemistry) and Jeff Lantis (Political Science) offering their perspectives on active learning exercises they have developed and used in the classroom.

2. Friday, December 10 at noon in Scovel 004.

Brian Ross (Education) will be leading a discussion on "Active Student Learning & Implications for Teaching."

The discussion will be based on two chapters from Ken Bain's "What the Best College Teachers Do" (Harvard University Press, 2004).

3. Teaching Matters is scheduled for Friday, February 25 at noon in Scovel 004.

Dean Fraga (Biology) will demonstrate:

"How COW faculty integrate active learning into their teaching"

We will also be discussing Ken Bain's book, "What the Best College Teachers Do?"

4. Teaching Matters will meet on April 29th at noon in Scovel 004.

The Assessment Committee will discuss the benefits and challenges of designing a goals-based curriculum. Members of the Philosophy Department will share with the group their work during this academic year on defining learning goals and objectives for their curriculum and courses. The discussion will center upon how a departmental approach can help clarify curricular goals across all courses in the department and how a goals-approach can enhance student learning in individual courses.