Hi Carol, I had an instructor for a course in graduate school who stood up and lectured every day even though there were only 4 of us. It was awful. Your situation calls for some creativity but what an opportunity! Especially if your course isn't a prereq for other courses. Here are some ideas: Consider doing a brief benchmark lecture once a week only on the concepts from the chapter that you have identified as being particularly subject to confusion or misconception, then build the rest of the class time around provocative discussion questions, either with all 4 students or putting them in dyads to generate answers followed by a whole group discussion. Consider giving the students the opportunity/responsibility to teach (not "do presentations") several of the topics, as individuals or in dyads. (I do this in my Bio Psych course and can say more about it if you want.) Ditch the textbook, identify a small set of journal articles or case studies, require that they come to class prepared to summarize and discuss them, and after the first session of discussing each article identify the "learning issues" that come out of it - things that they don't fully understand. Divide up the learning issues among them and have them report back on what they have found at the next class. (This is sort of a PBL "problem based learning" model as used at some medical schools such as Rush). Definitely do the dissection lab! But with some sensitivity - I would require that they watch and be able to identify structures but wouldn't require that they actually wield the scalpel. I've done it with a sheep brain but hey if you can afford a human brain go for it! Good luck! Nathalie Cote Belmont Abbey College
________________________________ From: DeVolder Carol L [mailto:devoldercar...@sau.edu] Sent: Fri 8/20/2010 11:12 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] ideas for an ultra-small class? Dear List Members, I have an unusual problem and I would appreciate your input. I am used to teaching courses that by many standards are considered small (30-35 students). This semester I have the opportunity to teach a very small class (4 students) in Behavioral Neuroscience. I'm most comfortable in a lecture format, in fact, I think I do pretty well that way, but I don't think that would be appropriate for this class. I'd love to hear your suggestions on how to teach this class in a seminar format (or any other creative idea) given the subject matter. I was also considering implementing a lab component that would be dissection of a human brain and have been wondering how valuable this would really be (I would have loved it as an undergrad, but that's me). I welcome all thoughts on any of this. Thanks in advance. I often forget to thank you all for your responses, but I really appreciate the help I've gotten over the years. And sorry for the cross-posting, but I get different kinds of answers from different lists. Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: devoldercar...@sau.edu web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: nathaliec...@bac.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13031.9e1a4ad1551fcb87bfeb7061da4e11a2&n=T&l=tips&o=4320 or send a blank email to leave-4320-13031.9e1a4ad1551fcb87bfeb7061da4e1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4322 or send a blank email to leave-4322-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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