{"id":261735,"date":"2010-02-01T19:40:56","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T00:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010953902_uwclasssizeadditionalperspectives.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-02-01T19:40:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T00:40:56","slug":"uw-class-size-additional-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/261735","title":{"rendered":"UW class size: additional perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big can still be small<\/strong><\/p>\n

I work with the faculty \u2014 Freeman, Bradshaw and Reusink \u2014 at the UW who teach Intro Biology and know that they are determined to maintain the high academic standards that biology is known for, while still creating a learning environment that promotes deep understanding \u2014 even with 700 students [\u201cTaking intro to biology? At UW, you\u2019re not alone,\u201d page one, Jan. 27].<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t easy, but they spent considerable time redesigning the course. They had students sit with their lab section in predetermined classroom locations, teacher assistants (TAs) sat with their students, daily in-class learning activities were created, students worked in small groups with TA supervision to help master concepts and undergraduates were trained as peer TAs to compensate for lost graduate TAs.<\/p>\n

By the end of the quarter, the faculty were calling on students by name and students knew each other. They all worked like \u201cDawgs\u201d and accomplished their goals. Large classes do not have to be anonymous note-taking exercises, but they do require considerable staff support and dedicated faculty who don\u2019t want students to pay for the budget cuts from Olympia.<\/p>\n

We can make do for a while, but Olympia needs to realize that these students are Washington\u2019s tomorrow and we need the resources to properly train Washington\u2019s future scientific leaders.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mary Pat Wenderoth, principal lecturer, UW Biology Department, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Problem has been around since \u201967<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your article about the crowded UW biology course brought back some unpleasant memories: 1967, 500 people in Intro to Biology, numbered 101 and 102. You had to take both quarters to get the 10 credits. If you only took 101 you got zip \u2014 even if you passed it.<\/p>\n

First announcement: They graded on a curve, so there will be 50 As, 50 Fs, 100 Bs and Ds, 200 Cs. Fifty of you won\u2019t be back for 102 [they said].<\/p>\n

Second announcement: High-school chemistry or physics will be helpful.<\/p>\n

Third announcement: College chemistry or physics will be more helpful \u2014 remember, it\u2019s our first day of college; We\u2019re freshmen and now we are panicking, but it\u2019s too late to switch to another class.<\/p>\n

The course was four hours of lecture \u2014 Monday through Thursday; Friday was review lecture, usually by TAs. There were two two-hour labs taught by TAs: nine hours of class per week for five credits.<\/p>\n

For two quarters, this was easily the most horrible course at UW, which otherwise was a great experience.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Carole Allen, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Will pay more taxes to remedy problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent photo and article about the huge class sizes in some University of Washington departments was an eye-opener! 700 students in one class is obscene, and our students deserve better \u2014 and smaller.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s well-known and well-documented that students in smaller classes are more successful and they greatly benefit from more teacher and professor interaction.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t expect university lecture halls to offer the same ratio of students-to-teachers as elementary schools, but 700 is absolutely unworkable and should not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019d pay more taxes to help remedy this intolerable situation \u2014 one that is intolerable for students and faculty.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mary Kathryn Myers, Kent<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big can still be small I work with the faculty \u2014 Freeman, Bradshaw and Reusink \u2014 at the UW who teach Intro Biology and know that they are determined to maintain the high academic standards that biology is known for, while still creating a learning environment that promotes deep understanding \u2014 even with 700 students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}