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ask professor pedagogy<\/strong> is a twice monthly advice column written by 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分 staff. one aspect of our mission is to cultivate dialogue about teaching and learning, so we welcome questions and concerns that arise in the classroom; particularly those from vanderbilt faculty, students, and staff. if you have a question that you’d like professor p to address, please send it to us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

dear professor p.,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

around this time of my year students routinely <\/strong>beg<\/del><\/span><\/strong> <\/del><\/span><\/strong>ask to have class outside.\u00a0 every year i have an internal debate about this.\u00a0 i would love to take advantage of the nice weather.\u00a0 however, being outside also means being distracted, both by nature and passing students.\u00a0 each semester i end up nixing the idea of meeting outside because i know that it means that that particular class session will likely accomplish little to nothing.\u00a0 \u00a0is there a way to have class outside without wasting a whole class period?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

window gazer<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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dear window-gazer:<\/p>\n

the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the squirrels are scavenging, the tulips are blooming… it’s a great time to be outside on our lovely campus – i think about the sunshine a lot especially in class or as i sit inside at my desk and write this. in the past, professor p too has said a straight forward\u00a0no<\/strong> in response to student requests to have class outside. but i’ve been rethinking this lately as i continue to incorporate new ways of introducing ideas to students in meaningful ways.\u00a0\u00a0 allergies and grass stains aside; there are some great benefits to taking your class outside.\u00a0\u00a0 let’s consider a few: <\/span><\/p>\n

being outdoors can put course concepts in a new context<\/strong>. rather than simply making it a change in venue, you could actually enhance student learning for particular topics by placing them in a new context.\u00a0 in a society where people have less and less interaction with nature, many of students are unfamiliar with or have little knowledge of the natural world.\u00a0 yet discussions of the natural world pervade history, philosophy, literature, sciences, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 college campuses are wonderful venues for this exercise.\u00a0 the wide-open and well-maintained lawns, flower beds and trees can offer a peaceful and intentional connection with nature that many students often lack or frequently overlook.<\/p>\n

use nature to discuss \u201cbig ideas\u201d in your course<\/strong>. for instance, holding class outside could be a way to address changing notions of the value of land and its ownership, humanity\u2019s place in the cosmos. having these discussions outdoors rather than in a classroom would encourage students to interact with nature itself, articulate and analyze their individual perceptions and views of nature, as well as provide the forum for concretely showing them how the nature held and continues to hold meaning in our society and continues to influences daily life, public policy, the production of literature, etc.<\/p>\n

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