College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Great challenges

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers a variety of first-year experience seminars.
"There are not too many freshman courses that allow this amount of creativity for the students."

Craig Ogilvie, associate professor of physics and astronomy, feels strongly about the opportunities offered to first-year students by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the "Great Challenges" seminar series held last fall.

"Great Challenges" continued the First-Year Experience program offered by LAS. The one-credit courses offered students an opportunity to discuss a complex issue, wrestle with tough material and explore different perspectives on a subject.

In last fall's two sections of "Great Challenges" taught by Ogilvie and Joel Geske, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, the freshmen developed a project to help the Ames and Iowa State communities deal with scarce energy resources.

"They analyzed the issues and came up with proposals of how to implement these projects," Ogilvie said.

The projects ranged from a mid-Iowa transport system, compact light-bulbs throughout campus, recycling versus refuse power production, to high-efficiency washers and dryers on campus.

"This helped the students learn a bit of the scholarly method of investigation, evaluation of readings from ‘experts' and how to implement a plan of action," Geske said.

As the course progressed through the semester, Geske said he saw changes in the students.

"At the first reading, the students pretty much just accepted what the author said. As we dug into the article and really examined it deeply we looked at things like the point of view the author was coming from, discrepancies in some of the facts and obvious biases," he said.

"After that the students were much more critical in their reading and discussions."

This spring, Geske and Les Miller, professor of computer science, are scheduled to teach "Great Challenges" seminars. "Energy Resources: A Global and Local Challenge" is once again a one-hour course open to all LAS first-year students.

"Great Challenges" is part of a series of seminars within the LAS First-Year Experience program. Others include:
"Connections" - this seminar intersects between two large lecture courses. Faculty from the large lectures will participate in seminar discussions as students look for intersections beyond the classroom where they might read a novel, see a film, go to a play or on a field trip.

This spring's "Connections" courses include: "Behavior, Word & Power," which intersect public speaking and social psychology courses; "American Democracy: Dead or Alive?", sociology and American government courses; and "Vibes of History," western civilization and music history.
"Frontiers of the Discipline" - these seminars focus on "cutting edge" research including courses on "Stem Cell Research: Biology, Ethics & Politics," "Religious Games and Toys in the Classroom," and "Electroacoustic Music."

Additional information on each of the LAS First-Year Experience programs is available on-line.

"Connections" - www.las.iastate.edu/admissions/connections.shtml.

"Frontiers of the Discipline" - www.las.iastate.edu/admissions/frontiers.shtml.

"Great Challenges" - www.las.iastate.edu/admissions/challenges.shtml.