E D U C A T I O N 9
UK 9 - 21 OCTOBER 2010
he first
The challenge... Teaching
It does take some effort
is a different universe
Studying means pushing back the frontiers and taking up challenges. Think of dissecting mice, making a presentation in a suit or debating in a foreign language. The UK puts the spotlight on students and their study challenges. This week: Master’s student Miranda Pluimers (22), who teaches first-year students of international business and management (IBM). By Nicole besselink For the sixth weekend in a row she isn’t going home and she has to skip her fortnightly trip to see friends in Amsterdam. “But that’s a decision I’ve made consciously”, Miranda explains in a Zernike lecture room on a rainy Friday morning while her students are having a break. “This is a chance that I want to grab.” Alongside her Master’s in Human Resource Development she is in charge of three IBM tutorials. In
September last year she applied for the job of teaching assistant and within a year she has been promoted to teacher. “I’m not really a committee or a society person. To avoid a gap in my CV I decided to apply. I must have done something right over the last year”, she smiles. The lecture continues with a presentation by four students on the Second Industrial Revolution. Miranda has printed out their information sheets and makes her own notes. “Could you give me one positive and one negative point
please”, she asks the group. That’s something not all lecturers do, she says. “But I think that asking students to give feedback on their colleagues is very important. They can learn a lot from it.” When she speaks the group is quiet. “That took some effort”, Miranda admits. “You have to be clear about your rules from the start and prove that you’re a capable teacher although you’re only 22. Students need to trust you.” Seeing that trust increasing over the weeks is something she especially likes about her job as a teacher. “Because that trust leads to honesty. Students can be frank with me and they know that. I would rather have students telling me they can’t come to class because they were in a fight than students coming up with a lame excuse, like they ‘don’t feel so well’.” She feels her method pays off. “Last week I had a lecture in a room next to this group. In the break they didn’t hesitate to come up to me and talk.”
Sign language for doctors-to-be | b ac kg r o u n d | To improve communication between doctors and deaf people, the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) has organized a sign language course for medical students in Groningen. The topic of the third lecture: ‘Body parts and complaints’. By NICOLE BESSELINK
Photo Jeroen van Kooten about with my family, things that I find much more important than theories. I was constantly thinking, there is this other world that I don’t want to lose touch with.” As first-generation students, do Machteld, Lies and Arend-Jan ever feel ‘different’ from the other students? Lies was never really aware of this, so when she first met her boyfriend’s father, she was impressed by this “true academic”. “Now, of course, I know he’s just a normal man. But there are some things I’ve always regarded as symbols of my being different. The sorority and fraternity members of Vindicat and Albertus, hockey and going to the US for a year. The possibility of going abroad to study just never crossed my mind. It just doesn’t feel like something you do.” “No”, he answered, “de Volks krant.” [quality newspaper that is perhaps a little less intellectual, DV]. “Ah, so you are one of those”, the colleague said meaningfully. The students interviewed did not identify with Matthys’s conclusions. They do not feel hampered at all. A professor does not even know what kind of family you come from, they say, and he or she would not care. But according to Matthys, that does not mean the obstruction is not there. “When I was still a student I would proba-
The notion that you are the first person in your family to ‘get there’ can be stimulating. Machteld feels extra motivated. Her mother would very much like to have studied, but she had to work hard to finish her nursing training. “She always encouraged us to achieve as much as we could”, Machteld says. For Geartsje-Sietske it means extra drive, but it makes her insecure as well. Her family’s initial response was scepticism to her wanting to study law. “Let’s see if you’ll manage”, they said. Her parents now have more faith in her capabilities. She knows that her dad, even though he seldom asks her about her studies, is proud. “I always thought he didn’t care. But then I heard that he often talks about me and says ‘My daughter is going to be a lawyer’.” bly have said the same. It is only when you grow older that you notice how much impact your background really has.” Indeed, although your lecturers will not treat you any differently because of your social class, class differences still prevail among students. “Corps members clearly distinguish themselves. Students who come from working-class families or from abroad act more modestly.” He is convinced that differences become more visible as they grow older. “Adult life is full of subtle differences.”
The video projector hums, the clock ticks. Though filled with students – twenty young women and a man – it is silent in the classroom. One by one the students introduce themselves in sign language. They spell their names and make the sign they chose to represent their name. A girl mimes a rose in a vase. Her name is Rosalie. Another girl holds her hand behind her ear. “Why?” one of the teachers wants to know. “Because I’ve got big ears”, the student smiles. Teachers Sylvia Wagemaker and Nanouk Verbeek continue their seminar. In turn they show a symptom sign. “This means ‘complaint’”, Sylvia says while touching her chin with her index finger. A second later all students point their fingers at their chins. Then Nanouk bends her right
hand and moves it downwards; then she bends both index fingers and taps them against each other. “Solid stools”, she explains. Pauline, a third-year medical student, imitates the sign and suppresses a smile. She had seen the posters in previous years, but this time the seminars fitted in her timetable. “I’ve always been interested in sign language”, she says. It is the fourth time IFMSA Groningen has organized the course, says Elise van der Stouwe, chair of the medical education committee. “There are always more women than men. Last year three men signed up, this year only one.”
Elise attended the seminar a few years ago, but hardly uses sign language in daily life. “I just don’t meet that many deaf people.” To help students remember the signs when they actually need them, the course is aimed at second and third-year students. Elaine feels that ‘brush-up’ evenings would be really helpful. Teachers Sylvia and Nanouk hope that by providing these doctors-to-be with a basic knowledge of sign language, barriers between doctors and deaf patients can be broken down. “Nevertheless we always advise the use of an interpreter.”
Avenida Liberdade... and Groningen | i n t e r v i e w | Three students of Spatial Sciences linked climatological knowledge to a new design for the Avenida Liberdade in Lisbon in their Bachelor’s thesis. They have been nominated for the Stedelijk Interieur Studenten Award 2010. On Thursday, Trinette Boonman, Maurice Middendorp and Leon Teeuw present their research to a jury. By janita naaijer
Three students in Lisbon on an Erasmus grant. You’d expect them to spend their time partying… Trinette: “We did work hard, but
started gently. During the first weeks we walked around the city getting a feel for its planning.”
The urban heat island effect plays a central role in your thesis. What is that exactly? “It basically means that it’s warmer in cities than in the areas around them. That’s mainly due to lower wind speeds and dark materials that absorb sunlight. This is very topical because the earth is getting warmer. When building and redesigning cities, this is increasingly being taken into account.” What exactly did you do in the
Portuguese capital? “We linked climatological knowledge to urban planning knowledge. In Lisbon there are guidelines drawn up by scientists to counteract the effects of global warming. We investigated the Avenida Liberade, a polluted street which could be another Champs-Élysées, to see if they actually work.” Is the Avenida Liberdade being redesigned to a Groningen model? “I don’t know. We haven’t actually shown the Portuguese our designs yet. We only had three months and that was soon over. Maybe in the next project.”