Honors Faculty Discuss Teaching

(From L to R) Honors student Caleb Parks and faculty members Paul Babbitt, Deborah Wilson, and Abdel Bachri.

The SAU Honors College hosted a teaching exchange session on Tuesday, November 15. Participating were Paul Babbitt, Deborah Wilson, and Abdel Bachri. Dr. Babbitt spoke on how he taught Honors Philosophy as a full honors course (e.g., a course that only enrolls honors students). His class has 15 students. He teaches them through philosophical readings and discussion. He said his honors students, "Are not used to thinking, don't like being wrong, but like authority." That last point, he added, was particularly important in a philosophy course where the whole concept is NOT to accept arguments from authority. On the other hand, though, he noted that his honors students, "do everything I tell them to." When it comes to teaching philosophy, he has found that rodeo scholarship students seem to do especially well in his course. One of them said that falling off of a horse gives one a different outlook on life. Babbitt ended by saying that he tries to stay away from the "banking concept of education" where teachers make 'deposits' of knowledge in the brains of their students. Instead, he wants them to think for themselves.

Deborah Wilson spoke next about when she taught an honors contract course (e.g., a course that enrolls both honors and regular students; the honors students contract with the instructor to elevate the course to honors level in some way) in research methods. The contract called for her honors student to conduct original research (risky behavior was the topic) and present it at a regional psychology association meeting. Three other regular students in the course also conducted their own research as well. All then presented it at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA). Wilson found that a synergy emerged between the honors student and the three other students. One reason for that was the SWPA deadline. It was in late November, so the research had to be completed before then. Interestingly, all the students presented their research the following semester, after they had already completed the course. The Psi Chi psychology honors society and the SAU Honors College sponsored the trip to SWPA and paid for all expenses.

Abdel Bachri spoke last. He described his approach to honors instruction as different from the other two. He typically enrolls 2 to 3 honors students a semester and meets with them for three hours a week. Together, they all work on a physics project of some kind, usually involving the construction of some kind of equipment. He described one of those projects, a propane-burning standing wave demonstrator:

Drawing by Adbel Bachri

The horizontal tube is a small section of automobile radiator pipe and evenly space holes are drilled into its upper portion. The right side is sealed and a propane tank and feed line are fitted. The other side is sealed with a diaphragm. Finally, a function generator is added to produce sound waves. Once the apparatus is complete and lit, the flame pattern will illustrate standing waves caused by different frequencies. Bachri believes that such hands-on projects serve to give physics students the opportunity to see textbook principles applied in real-life, concrete instances. Such projects also help differentiate them from applicants from other colleges when it comes time to apply to graduate school.

After the three presentations, some discussion followed about similarities and differences in teaching approaches. The participants agreed that teaching physics and psychological research allowed for methods removed from the classroom and from only reading and writing. Babbitt, it seems, has the hardest task. Even we instructors do not expect honors students to come up with original philosophical theories or concepts. But, it is possible for physics students and psychology students to perform new, unique, and even original projects in their fields.

The above discussions took place over a nice sandwich lunch provided by ARAMARK followed by delicious apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream. There will be another teaching exchange session in the spring.