Polymaths for Hire: Integrated learning in the classroom
Wouldn´t you like students to be motivated to stay on task longer and continue to explore the subject once a grade is given? Students who can analyze and apply data? A school culture where students and faculty discover knowledge together? This workshop provides educators with an opportunity to learn strategies for promoting collaborative learning, for experimenting with cross-disciplinary case metholodology in introductory courses, and for creating positive learning communities for both students and themselves. Presenters will also speak to the need for integrated learning as a means for making curriculum more relevant and meaningful for majors and non-majors alike. Suitable to half-day program.
Witches Will Teach
This interactive workshop showcases interdisciplinary case study teaching by inviting participants into the process of critical thinking and problem solving in real-world scenarios. Working collaboratively in small groups, participants will work through an abbreviated case study of the Salem Witch Trials, with the goal of appreciating the influence of multiple perspectives on curriculum. Participants will assess common learning objectives in the general education curriculum. Suitable to a half-day or full-day program.
Renaissance Teaching in the 21st Century
This full-day interactive workshop explores the challenges of integrating curriculum across disciplines, and provides a template for initiating cross-curricular collaborations on large and small scales, with limited time and resources. Participants will inventory their individual teaching objectives and identify essential common goals to facilitate the development of miniature learning communities. In a constructivist manner, workshop leaders will guide groups to the creation of an original integrated case study for immediate application. Finally, presenters will provide and discuss relevant models of assessment and effectiveness of this methodology.
Spellbinding Stories and Bewitching Ideas: Interdisciplinary Learning through Case Studies
Recent studies on education emphasize the importance of global competencies in the preparation of 21st century citizens. This interactive workshop exhibits the process students would use in and out of the classroom to exercise these competencies, researching and working independently and jointly, to critically examine data and develop testable hypotheses. Participants and presenters will work collaboratively through abbreviated versions of two interdisciplinary case studies, Josie and the Pussy Cats: an Interdisciplinary Case Study of Madness, and Salem´s Secrets: a Case Study on Hypothesis Testing and Data Analysis. Use of these cases models the mutual process of discovery, construction of knowledge that is contextually rooted, and engagement in lifelong learning. Suitable to a half-day or full-day program.
