Vol. 105 Issue 4
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@thepittnews
Science classrooms get a makeover
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Pittnews.com
BANDING TOGETHER
Ilya Yashin For The Pitt News David Nero is flipping a space this fall, but it isn’t a house. It’s his classroom, and it’s not in the way you’re thinking. Nero and other professors at Pitt are swapping the traditional sequence of instruction to help students better learn the material. In a “flipped classroom,” students learn new concepts at home — often through online lectures — and work on homework and other problems in class with an instructor’s help. While many humanities professors have adopted this approach, so, for example, students don’t waste class time reading a novel, professors of science and math courses usually devote class time to presenting new information. Nero, a physics lecturer at Pitt, said physics educators have long been thinking about flipping their classes. Pitt’s department of physics and astronomy approached him this spring about flipping his fall class as an experiment. “It’s not that the traditional lecture doesn’t work — we know that it works,” Nero said. “But can we do something better? Research says yes.” A study by San Jose State University found that a flipped engineering course in 2012 resulted in improved grades, which had been notably low in the past. Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.
The Brass Roots, led by maestro Lance LaDuke, performed patriotic tunes in front of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall to commemorate Memorial Day. Sheldon Satenstein | Visual Editor
College of General Studies moves to Posvar Hall Macie Ellis Staff Writer
Students in the College of General Studies will report to a new location for classes next semester. The College of General Studies is moving to the first floor of Posvar Hall. Sherry Miller Brown, director for the college’s McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success, said the move will give the college more space for faculty offices. University spokesman John Fedele said the construction, contracted by FMS Construction Services, based in Sharpsburg, Pa., should be
complete by early to mid July. Fedele said the contractors will convert the old first-floor library space in Posvar into offices and meeting spaces. The number of rooms in the renovated space is to be determined, he said. The College of General Studies, a school for students who are continuing or completing their degrees, entering the workforce or changing or advancing their careers, consists of 12 majors, three minors and 13 certificates and is currently located on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning. The new location in Posvar is easily accessible on the first floor, Fedele said, which is important to the non-traditional students like
veterans, students taking evening classes and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute members, who are age 50 and older and take classes for no grades or credits. Moving to the new location also opens up space in the Cathedral. The fourth floor of the Cathedral, where the College of General Studies is currently housed, will be under renovation this summer for faculty offices and an instructional support area for the Department of English and administrative faculty office space for the Cultural Studies program, Film Studies program and the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program, Fedele said.