ABOUT THE “LEARNING PHILOSOPHY” UNDERLYING THIS COURSE

This course is designed to help you learn the course material in ways that are different from traditional lecture courses.  It is based on the following precepts:  

·         Class time is valuable and should be a time of active, hands-on, and engaged learning by students, 

·         Students learn best when they come to class prepared with sufficient background knowledge (from reading) to which new material can be added, 

·         Students learn best when they have achieved a common "starting place" from which to deepen their understanding of a concept, 

·         A group of people working together cooperatively can solve complex problems more easily and at a higher level than an individual working alone, and 

·         To achieve success in group activities, each individual has to be perceived as someone with something to offer, and each individual is responsible for preparing and contributing his or her own individual knowledge.

Inspired by the above, your learning in this class is designed to take place in different ways.  You will do some class work individually, but you will work on other types of activities in an assigned “working group” or  collaborative learning team in which the members help and support each other’s efforts to understand and work with the course material.  Class time will generally consist of a variety of  learning activities: e.g., mini-lectures, individual brief writing exercises, paired or small-group discussions, hands-on small-group problem solving, projects work, etc. etc.