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Interdisciplinary Pedagogy for Developing Critical Thinking Skills in the Course “Gender and the Brain”

Fri, September 6, 8:00 to 9:30am, Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, Floor: Four, Bayside C

Abstract

At Cornell, we have developed a hybrid science/humanities course, “Gender and the Brain,” bridging neurobiology, FGSS, and LGBTQ studies. Bringing STEM and humanities students together for a semester-long collaboration for close readings of primary scientific literature helped them to consider the cultural tropes that underlie gender stereotypes and consider how they influence the design of scientific studies. To facilitate the development of a shared knowledge base in a group with disparate academic backgrounds, we used an adaptive “course and a half” structure, in which students shared assignments for in-class activities after completing personalized online learning assignments in either neuroscience or STS. Students shared their backgrounds as they formed cross-departmental teams to make in-class presentations of primary scientific literature and wrote a final paper in the form of a mock grant application. This course’s unusual material, constituency, and structure raise several interesting questions on the methodology of teaching a hybrid science and humanities course. Will incorporating humanities material into a curriculum enhance training in critically evaluating a scientific study? Will an introductory science course organized around a single topic, particularly one of in which students already have an interest and a theoretical framework, be more effective than a traditional survey course in teaching introductory science? Finally, what teaching practices can we employ to create a learning community that is both supportive and challenging for students steeped in different modes of academic discourse?

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