1. Learning Community Models May 2002

2. Learning Communities A variety of approaches that link or cluster classes during a given term, often around an interdisciplinary theme, that enroll a common cohort of students. This represents an intentional restructuring of students' time, credit, and learning experiences to build community, and to foster more explicit connections among students, among students and their teachers, and among disciplines. 5

3. 6 Teacher A Class 1Class 2 and students experience their separate courses in unrelated fragments Teacher DTeacher CTeacher BTeacher A Class 3 Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Student Usually, teachers teach separate courses to separate sets of students From Courses

4. 10 Learning Communities Invite an Array of Pedagogical Approaches: Problem-Centered Learning Discussion Groups & Seminars Writing and Speaking Across-the-Curriculum Ongoing Reflection, Metacognitive Activities, Self-evaluation Peer Teaching Lectures and Demonstrations Experiential Learning Labs and Field Trips Collaborative/ Cooperative Learning

5. 13 Programs in which a small cohort of students enrolls in larger classes that faculty DO NOT coordinate. Intellectual connections and community- building often take place in an additional integrative seminar. Programs of two or more classes linked thematically or by content, which a cohort of students takes together. The faculty DO plan the program collaboratively. Programs of coursework that faculty members team-teach. The course work is embedded in an integrated program of study. shading represents the student cohort Learning Communities Can Be Structured As: +

6. 28 Team-Taught Learning Communities Two, three or more courses fully team-taught as an integrated program. Goals: More intensive student immersion in interrelated topics, a theme or question Faculty participating as learners as well as teachers The blurring of boundaries between disciplines or courses in favor of a larger whole The faculty development that emerges from collaboratively planning, delivering and reflecting on a coordinated program

7. 35 The importance of context: Coordinated Studies Themes “Ways of Knowing: How We Choose What to Believe” History, Philosophy, Literature, Drama “The Televised Mind” Mass Media, Sociology, Freshman Writing “Problems Without Solutions?” Sociology, Economics, History, Politics, Religion “Looking at the Renaissance: Power and the Person” Music, History of Art, Drawing, Freshman Writing “The Science of Mind” Neurobiology, Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy of Mind and Language

8. 34 Water Weekly schedule Fall and Winter 2005 MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday Prep Day workshopField Work Data Collection Water Quality Chem Lab Prep Day SeminarFresh Water Ecology Workshop

9. Program Goals An understanding of the hydrological cycle An understanding of the nutrients and pollutants in local watersheds An understanding of the conflicts surrounding water in local, regional, and global settings An understanding of water quality, water purification, and drinking water An understanding of the impact of humans on hydrological systems

10. Program Goals (cont.) Basics of freshwater ecology Water sampling techniques Lab techniques in water quality monitoring Lab and field notebook writing techniques Field techniques for biological monitoring of water quality Experimental design and associated statistical methods Communication skills and collaborative learning Problem solving Analyzing complex situations that have no easy solutions Persuasive writing

11. Community Building Activites Challenge Course – first week Week-long Field Trip Weekly Field Work Seminar Discussions Potluck Meals Small-group activities in workshops Group Projects

12. Thematic Questions What are Some of the Local, Regional & Global Issues Surrounding Water? How Do We Identify Stake-Holder Positions in Water Conflicts? What Strategies Could Resolve These Conflicts? What is in Clean Water? What Are the Problems With Our Water? How Do We Purify Our Water? What Accumulates in Our Water? What Have We Learned?

13. Case Study Seminars Truckee River Klamath River Fluorides in Drinking Water Should I Eat Tuna? (Fish bioaccumulation of toxins) Should I Take The Pill? (Endocrine disruptors in streamwater) Should We Re-open the Aluminum Smelters on the Columbia River? Student-generated → peer feedback → Not-A-Paper presentation

14. Laboratory & Field Work Macroinvertebrate monitoring (IBI and other diversity measures) Possible chemical measures –Temperature and pH – Nitrates and phosphates –DO and BOD –Fecal coliform –Alkalinity and hardness

15. Winter Quarter Seminars and Case Studies on Global Water Conflict Even More Freshwater Ecology Lab and Field Project