Thinking Through Improvisation: Do General Improvisation Studies Belong in a Liberal Arts Curriculum?

Thinking Through Improvisation implies two meanings: 1) carefully examining all that improvisation encompasses including how it is practiced, and 2) using improvisation to generate ideas or performances. Using a First Year Seminar course I taught for 20 years, I illustrate how a general course in improvisation can introduce students to improvisation as a way of thinking in diverse fields and can strengthen liberal arts skills in critical and creative thinking. Interdisciplinary and multicultural approaches are readily incorporated as are a range of activities including writing, critical reading, performance, and creative problem solving. Risk taking, trust, creativity, adaptability, teamwork, respect for knowledge, abstract and practical thinking and the joy of creative discovery are explored through discussion and practice of improvisation. Scientific explanations of improvisation are compared to subjective experiences of improvisational performance. These activities lay a groundwork for creative explorations of the discipline-oriented curriculum in the range of fields subsequently encountered by liberal arts students.

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By Measure: Creativity in Design

Industry and Higher Education ◽

10.5367/000000007782311830 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 21 (5) ◽

pp. 353-359 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Brad Hokanson

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Research Methodology ◽

Creative Thinking ◽

First Year ◽

Specific Training ◽

Creative Problem Solving ◽

First Year Students ◽

Design Students ◽

Creative Problem

Specific training may be required to develop creativity in design students. At the very least, training is valuable in developing creativity in first-year students. Creativity is a skill that can be examined, used and taught - and it is one that is central to designing. This paper presents the results of empirical research from a class in creative problem solving for design students. The nature of creativity and the structure of the class are described, and this is followed by an outline of the research methodology and the use of the verbal Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Creativity, as measured through the test, significantly increased.

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A Marketing Course And The Liberal Arts: Students’ Perspective Of Interdisciplinary Relevance

Contemporary Issues in Education Research (CIER) ◽

10.19030/cier.v12i4.10314 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 79-86

Author(s):

Marilyn Martin Melchiorre

Keyword(s):

Liberal Arts ◽

Fine Arts ◽

Added Value ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Education Literature ◽

Sample Data ◽

Arts Curriculum ◽

Subject Areas ◽

Liberal Arts Students ◽

Enhance Student Learning

This study examines students’ reflections on how concepts covered in a marketing course are applied to the broader liberal arts curriculum. The objective was to demonstrate when given a chance with an Interdisciplinary Reflection Assignment, students can articulate interdisciplinary relevance. The study collected sample data from six classes over three years. The assignment embodies the areas of metacognition, reflection, and integration of interdisciplinary knowledge.A content analysis approach was utilized to review both quantitative and qualitative data. Students’ comments are categorized as follows: 32 in “Humanities & Fine Arts”; 31 in “Natural Sciences & Mathematics”; 93 in “Social Sciences & History”; 6 in “Professional Studies” (College, 2019). The assignment results strongly suggest that, when asked, students can articulate the integration of a business marketing course with other liberal arts subject areas. Thus, demonstrating business has a legitimate place in the liberal arts curriculum. This study contributes to education literature by providing a specific pedagogical example that can be easily replicated by other educators at other higher education institutions. The assignment offers added value to enhance student learning and appreciation of how marketing concepts integrate with other academic disciplines.

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The Necessity and Method of Death Education as a Liberal Arts Subject

The Korean Association of General Education ◽

10.46392/kjge.2021.15.5.71 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 71-84

Author(s):

Sul Joong Hwang

Keyword(s):

Liberal Arts ◽

Human Beings ◽

Death Education ◽

Life And Death ◽

Major Subject ◽

The World ◽

Arts Curriculum ◽

The Face ◽

Open Discussion ◽

Liberal Arts Students

The purpose of this essay is to create and promote a discourse on how to develop and operate convergence education within the liberal arts. Currently, the liberal arts curriculum is suffering from considerable difficulties caused by the logic of capital that has penetrated into universities. In such a crisis situation, death education can be an important motive for restoring the value of liberal arts. Students must one day face their own death. In the face of existential and ontological death, students are forced to ask the most valuable and meaningful questions in life, and these questions contain the classic essence of the liberal arts.Death has a very complex and multi-layered nature that can not be dealt with only by a single major subject. In order to fully and deeply deal with death, convergence education is needed. As death is a mirror that reflects life as a whole, it is necessary for us to review carefully the various and opposing views and positions on death together. Therefore, rather than having one professor in charge of death education, it is much more effective for many professors with different majors to participate in the lecture as possible. Seen in this light, a lecture on ‘Life and Death’ as an example of convergence education in the liberal arts is presented. By participating in free and open discussion about the problems of life and death without trying to provide only one right answer, students can gain a broader perspective on human beings and the world, as well as have an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and make independent decisions.

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When Aristotle Meets Confucius: Liberal Arts Education for Sustainable Development; Reflections from Teaching a First Year Seminar in a U. S. College

International Journal of Chinese Education ◽

10.1163/22125868-12340012 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 31-53

Author(s):

Jingjing Lou

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Arts Education ◽

Real Life ◽

Teaching Experience ◽

Education For Sustainable Development ◽

First Year ◽

Liberal Arts Education ◽

Eastern Philosophies ◽

First Year Seminar

AbstractBased on the author’s personal reflection from teaching a first year seminar on ecology, development and education in a US liberal arts college, this article explores the desirability as well as possibility to incorporate Eastern philosophies into Western liberal arts education. The article highlights two lessons that the author has generated from her teaching experience. Both lessons focus on the acquisition of skillsets that are at the core to both liberal arts education and education for sustainable development, and how the introduction of Eastern philosophies and their perspectives helps students accomplish or further strengthen these skills. Specifically, students develop more critical thinking skills by shifting the paradigm, and practice liberal arts education in real life by bringing knowledge and action together, connecting individual to community, and linking the global to the local.

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Getting a “quick fix”: First-year college students’ use of Wikipedia

First Monday ◽

10.5210/fm.v20i10.5401 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John C. Garrison

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

College Faculty ◽

First Year ◽

First Year Students ◽

First Semester ◽

First Year College ◽

Balanced Approach ◽

Liberal Arts Students ◽

First Year College Students

College students use Wikipedia frequently, despite educators’ highly divided opinions about it, and so it is important to understand how and why they are using it. This study followed a first-year class of undergraduate, liberal arts students over the course of their first semester to see how they used, were influenced about, and rated Wikipedia. Data was collected via two surveys of the first-year class, as well as focus groups and a survey of college faculty. This study found that first-year students are uncertain about the variety of ways to use information sources like Wikipedia, and that a direct and balanced approach to this area from instructors may lead to better outcomes than strict prohibition or silence.

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Crystal Growth to Foster Inquiry–Based Learning: First Year Science Laboratory

Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations and Advances ◽

10.1107/s2053273314086161 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 70 (a1) ◽

pp. C1383-C1383

Author(s):

Wael Rabeh ◽

Joel Bernstein

Keyword(s):

Crystal Growth ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Learning Goals ◽

First Year ◽

Science Laboratory ◽

First Year Students ◽

Inquiry Based Learning ◽

Salt Crystals ◽

Arts Curriculum ◽

Undergraduate Science

Crystals play an important and ubiquitous role in our everyday life with applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, and biotechnology. With the recent trends toward inquiry-based learning in undergraduate science teaching laboratory, we developed a crystals growth laboratory for first year students. While one objective is to learn how to grow and handle crystals, the laboratory is designed to foster the acquisition of basic scientific knowledge and hands on experience to develop critical laboratory skills. In this sense, it is targeted for students with diverse backgrounds and, in accord with the liberal arts curriculum at NYU Abu Dhabi readily includes non-science majors. The original inspiration for the lab came from the 1960 classic book "Crystals and Crystal Growing" by Holden and Singer. We have expanded on the emphasis there on inorganic salt crystals to require students to crystallize macromolecules as well, in a research driven environment. Similar to projects carried in more advanced courses, students write an outline of their project that is developed into a full proposal through a literature search stimulated by in class discussions and peer-review. Some of the learning goals include the ability to design and manage a research project, propose ideas and methods to explore the topic of interest, learn various techniques and equipment common in a science laboratory, the ability to analyze data, acquire best practices in lab safety, and most importantly develop their scientific writing skills. Following 4-5 weeks of crystal growing and characterization, students present their data at the end of the semester Crystal Growth Symposium first presenting a 5 minute flash poster-presentation followed by a poster session. The symposium is a collective effort to enhance the students' presentation and communication skills and to showcase and encouraging high quality of research. While still evolving, the laboratory has seen a variety of mainly student-initiated investigations not only exploring a variety of methods to grow crystals, but also in exploring the effect of magnetic field, vibration, temperature, or pH on crystal growth. We will present organizational details of the laboratory program and present examples of many posters that have been generated during four years of operating the laboratory.

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