The Intellectual Journey of Students.
Tuesday, February 28.
Susan Canon, IRP; Mary Cisar, Registrar; Diane Leblanc, Director of Writing.
Students do not arrive in our classrooms as empty vessels waiting to be filled; instead, they come with knowledge from previous classes and a range of other preconceptions. According to John Bransford, "teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them." At St. Olaf, the NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement), the Beginning College Student Survey (BCSS), and the report of our Committee on the First-Year Experience (CoFYE) both provide important evidence of the intellectual experiences of our students--both at the beginning and end of their undergraduate journey. We will use these sources to discuss both what students bring to our classroom and how they engage academically throughout their undergraduate years.
Link to NSSE data: http://www.stolaf.edu/offices/irp/Pbl/Students/NSSE2005.htm Link to CoFYE final report: http://www.stolaf.edu/stulife/deanofstudents/fye/index.html
