Freshman Seminar Research Articles

From the Earth to the Moon: A Freshman Seminar

AbstractThe seminar course for first‐year undergraduate students, From the Earth to the Moon, deals with both technical and non‐technical aspects of space flight, with particular reference to lunar voyages. The goals of the course are to establish a framework for understanding technology and its applications, to present fundamental principles of science and program management, and to motivate students to learn more about the many facets of engineering. As such, the course introduces numerous issues of systems engineering in a broad context, presenting not only science, technology, and mathematics but also the reasons that these subjects are important. Typically, all of the students in the course have studied physics and/or calculus in high school, though half plan to major in the humanities. Thus, the course has dual roles in exposing liberal arts students to details of technology and engineering students to societal impacts of technology.

Redesigning Freshman Seminar library instruction based on information competencies

During summer 1997, instruction librarians at Pepperdine University's Payson Library began restructuring Freshman Seminar library instruction sessions because they observed that students were not acquiring the needed library and information literacy skills. Too much material was being presented in too short a time with no opportunity for hands-on experience. Taking advantage of the opportunity for Web-based instruction, students now tour the library and learn catalog searching skills at their own pace outside of class. Librarians reinforce vital library skills and introduce the students to a general database during classroom instruction which includes hands-on experience. Evaluation indicates that students completing the program are more likely than those not completing it to select an appropriate library resource for identifying print and electronic information sources on a topic, but room for improvement exists.

Lessons in Leadership from the Arts and Literature: A Liberal Arts Approach to Management Education through Fifth Discipline Learning

A variety of constituents in management education have advocated the need for integrating liberal arts into the business curriculum. In response, this article presents an overview of a freshman seminar for prospective managers. The purpose of the seminar is to explore the arts and literature to discover what lessons can be learned about leadership. Through application of the five learning disciplines, students are challenged to analyze and interpret artistic and literary works with respect to leadership concepts.

Faculty Mentoring and the Spiritual Well-being of College Freshmen

This study identifies the impact of faculty mentoring on the spiritual well-being (SWB) of freshman students. This inquiry examined two groups of freshman students, their spiritual well-being, and their interaction with faculty mentors. Two groups were randomly chosen from the 1993–94 freshman class of a Christian liberal arts college in New England. Students in the experimental group participated in one of ten sections of the freshman seminar with a faculty-mentor throughout the academic year. The control group proceeded through the academic year as usual without the freshman-seminar experience. Students in both groups were given a self-assessment survey in September of their freshman year and again in May of their freshman year to determine any significant change in their SWB and to explore their perceptions of student-faculty interaction. Data were analyzed through a variety of statistical tests using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of this study revealed significant differences between the two groups, as well as significantly positive correlations among three aspects of mentoring and the components of spiritual well-being.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS' OPINIONS REGARDING THE VALUE OF THEIR FRESHMAN SEMINAR EXPERIENCE

Students enrolled in a community college freshman seminar course were interviewed to gather qualitative data on their opinions regarding the value of the course. Existing dissatisfaction among students, faculty, and administrators initiated this study . Data analysis revealed that randomly grouping students with wide - ranging levels of academic abilities and life experiences in a freshman seminar class had a number of drawbacks, as older adult learners differ greatly from younger student learners in aptitude, ability levels, maturity, and academic needs. The findings suggest that older adults need a different kind of freshman seminar course than the traditional first - year student, and that "gifted" older students might be used to provide "on - campus apprenticeships" for other first - year students.

Applying Active Learning Methods to the Design of Library Instruction for a Freshman Seminar

Active learning methods were employed in designing library instruction for an experimental freshman seminar at California State University-San Bernardino. Rather than rely on the traditional lecture/demonstration format, the centerpiece of the ninety-minute “one-shot” sessions was a small-group, self-guided exercise focusing on the library’s online system. As a prelude to the hands-on exercise, students participated in class discussions on the importance of information literacy. Opportunities for individual instruction also were provided. Student, librarian, and faculty evaluations of the sessions were favorable.

Cultivating the Arts of Engagement

In the first week of the freshman sem inar at our Catholic liberal arts col lege, one of our colleagues, a medievalist, is visiting a class. She has come robed in her academic gown talk about what a universitas first was (a guild of students or faculty), what it meant be a master or doctor and write a the sis. She has lugged into class a two-vol ume dissertation for illustration. The stu dents?just out of high schools in the suburbs around Baltimore, New York, and Washington?are attentive, but also per plexed and incredulous: perplexed at the notion of the university as a community of scholars rather than a place; incredu lous at the size of the thesis and the num ber of years invested earn the degree that goes with it. Some of them laugh in amazement. Others cast nervous glances at their classmates, wondering what they are in for. During the first year, and sometimes after, such dramas of surprise and confu sion will play out often, in class and out. Students will tell their advisors they have chosen psychology because they'd like to help people and then stumble when asked if they like behavioral research. In lit classes they will read Chinua Achebe's

Developing a Freshman Seminar: Challenges and Opportunities

The development and implementation of an award-winning freshman course, Management 101, Freshman Seminar: The Ecology of Business, presented the College of Business at Montana State University with many challenges and opportunities. Design of the course, development of course and institutional objectives, selection of readings and activities, and impact of the course on both student and faculty development are discussed.

The Professional Development Course as a Natural Extension of the Postsecondary Freshman Seminar

Abstract For decades the freshman seminar has been instrumental in facilitating student transition from high school to college and in improving retention and graduation rates. With their experience working in the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains, business education faculty have been involved in delivering freshman experiences. The professional development course, a natural extension of the freshman seminar, should be developed and delivered by business education faculty to help business majors develop a commitment to their profession. Suggestions for professional development course content are offered, and teaching-learning strategies are provided that facilitate a high level of student involvement in the learning process.

Weathering as a Topic in an Interdisciplinary Science Course for General Education

An interdisciplinary natural-science core course for general-education students was taught for two years at Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The course had a modular design and was presented by faculty from mathematics and each of the science departments at the University. It was our goal to give beginning students a chance for in-depth examination of a few subject areas.Students participated in two six-week-long “topic modules,” sandwiched between shorter introductory and capstone modules. This pattern could be repeated (with different topic modules) in a second semester.The geology module focused on the topic of silicate and carbonate mineral weathering. The students worked in teams to design and execute an experiment evaluating the dissolution kinetics of K-feldspar, dolomite, and/or calcite. Experimental results and conclusions were presented as poster sessions evaluated by geoscience faculty. Similar experiments might be of interest to teachers of introductory geology labs, honors courses, freshman seminars, or introductory petrology.

Student and Instructor Perceptions: Emphasis on Cognitive and Affective Goals in a Freshman Seminar by Faculty and Student Affairs Professionals

The authors explore traditional assumptions about the relative emphasis faculty members and student affairs administrators place on cognitive and affective development in the classroom. Through use of the Instructor Self-Assessment Forms and the Student Assessment Form, both groups' perceptions of the extent to which faculty and student affairs administrators emphasized these goals in a freshman orientation course are examined.

Student and Instructor Perceptions: Emphasis on Cognitive and Affective Goals in a Freshman Seminar by Faculty and Student Affairs Professionals

The authors explore traditional assumptions about the relative emphasis faculty members and student affairs administrators place on cognitive and affective development in the classroom. Through use of the Instructor Self-Assessment Forms and the Student Assessment Form, both groups' perceptions of the extent to which faculty and student affairs administrators emphasized these goals in a freshman orientation course are examined.

The Effects of a Freshman Seminar on At-Risk Under-, Over-, and Low Achievers

To refine their understanding of student needs, the authors categorized academically at-risk students into three groups: (a) underachievers, those with higher than average achievement test scores but lower than average high school grade point averages (GPAs); (b) overachievers, those with lower than average test scores but higher than average high school GPAs; and (c) low achievers, those with low test scores and GPAs. A freshman seminar was developed to enhance the academic success of all three groups, and academic performance was analyzed over a 3-year period. The three populations performed differently and responded to seminar content in distinct ways. Comparison with a control group showed that of all seminar students, the only gain was in the retention of low achievers. Underachievers who took the seminar did less well than those in the control group both in retention and in subsequent GPA.

ES 118 Environment and Society

This course started as a Freshman Seminar developed by Professors Cole and Firmage (Biology), Shattuck (Chemistry), and Tietenberg (Economics). Professor Fleming (Science-Technology Studies) joined the team in 1990. The success of the course led to the creation of a minor in environmental studies.The minor consists of six courses, and is available to all majors. It is designed to introduce students to environmental issues and their ramifications in the context of the social and natural sciences and the humanities. Colby also has environmental science concentrations available to biology, chemistry, and geology majors.

Learning Geology by Writing about the History of Geology

Writing assignments in my freshman seminar, which focuses on topics in the history of geology, ask students first to summarize, then describe, explain, and finally, convince a reader. Students improve their written work by revision, peer review, and collaborative writing assignments. The assignments require students to examine scientific principles of a past time, and they incite students to explore current notions of how the earth works. Student writing assignments have included: a summary of a recent periodical article about earth science; a description of Thomas Burnet's scientific explanation of the Noachian deluge; an explanation of the differences between relative and absolute geologic time; and an argument in favor or against the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact hypothesis.

The freshman seminar

A freshman seminar was designed to attempt to keep introductory students interested in chemistry by exploring how chemical principles discussed in introductory chemistry courses are manifested in r...

The Freshman Seminar and Faculty Development

The Freshman Seminar and Faculty Development

The Freshman Seminar and Faculty Development

The Freshman Seminar and Faculty Development

ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY

In this article, the author discusses the mission, activities, and results of a freshman seminar at a private women's college. The course was designed to involve the students actively in the learning and advising process.

The Mushroom Curriculum: Using Natural History to Teach Psychology

As part of a freshman seminar program, I taught a course on The Psychology of Mushrooms using a natural history approach. The seminar provided an opportunity to proceed from concrete experience to general principles of perception, learning, social, and abnormal psychology. Aspects of the course most valued by students were the field trip and the informality of sessions held in my home.