While purchasing a cup of coffee this morning, I came across one of my students from our Senior Seminar (History of Psyc) class. She wanted to talk about the class.
In this class, she tends to sit silently while others do the work of reviewing and discussing the assigned material (along with whatever tangents we take off upon). I took the opportunity to suggest that she get more involved in the class discussion and described several ways to become a part of the action. Her response was that she did not like to be involved in verbal "fights" and only liked courses where the professor lectures the whole time. She had been expecting a lecture course reviewing psychology for students intending to take the GRE. I tried to describe class discussion and debate as something other than a competitive "fight" with a winner and loser in each verbal exchange. Rather I said it could be viewed as a win-win situation in which participants compare viewpoints with the aim of both coming away as more informed and educated "winners." I also reminded her that the class was described at the outset as a seminar in which active discussion was an important course requirement. It quickly became clear to me that she wasn't buying any of this. She didn't want to expand her interpersonal skills or get involved in any clash of ideas. Nor was she persuaded by my effort to apply a positive spin on the act of voicing or comparing opinions and experiences. To her, this was all a form of combat--in a world that needs to replace combat with peace and harmony. As I headed off to my 8 o'clock class, I thought about how this student is going to nail me at course evaluation time and there is nothing I can do about it. She simply wants no part of class discussion and debate, sees critical thinking as an undesirable negative mindset, and prefers a world of peace and harmony. My classes often feature active discussion as a requirement and there are always a few students who refuse to participate, preferring to sit quietly and speaking only when directly addressed by someone else. I was wondering if the TIPS readers have similar problems and ideas for how to deal with these quiet nonparticipants. --Dave ___________________________________________________________________ David E. Campbell, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
