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The First-Year Seminar Program
This document summarizes UC Davis's First-Year Seminar Program. It provides key facts about the program, including that seminars are 1-2 unit courses for new students on a variety of subjects, with around 200 offered each year. It highlights example seminar topics that are hands-on, creative, and involve meeting experts. It emphasizes benefits like small class sizes that facilitate discussion, enthusiastic professors, learning fun topics in-depth, and meeting faculty. The goal is to explore ideas in new ways and help students develop skills like research, presentation, collaboration, and self-development.
The First-Year Seminar Program
- 1.
- 2. The Basic Facts •First-Year Seminars are one or two unit courses designed for students new to UC Davis • Discussion and question-based learning for up to 19 students • There's a huge variety of subjects -- 200 seminars are taught each year • Established in 1988 and managed by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- 3. So Why ShouldYou Take a First-Year Seminar? So Why Should You Take a First-Year Seminar?
- 4. Do creative projects likebuilding a rocket with a parachute. They're fun and hands-on!
- 5. Design and makeceramic art for the UC Davis Bee Haven.
- 6. Learn to fold origamiand arrange flowers in the Japanese style Discover what the Japanese definition of visual beauty is.
- 7. Meet "Thursday," thetrash-baby made of student's waste from one day.
- 8. Discover the psychologiesof drummers by describing their timing, syncopation, and other traits.
- 9. Some seminars look moretraditional... ...but explore ideas in new ways. Students map Jean Toomer'sStudents map Jean Toomer's novelnovel CaneCane onto Google Mapsonto Google Maps
- 10. Why are seminarsfun? • Small class size facilitates friendly, in depth discussion • Professors are enthusiastic because they contribute personal experience • They reveal the academic side of fun topics and the fun side of academic topics • You can meet famous people and faculty and go to fun places
- 11. Learn with NASA researcherDawn Sumner Discuss with famous novelist Kim Stanley Robinson Tweet with inspirational, one-armed drummer Rick Allen of Def Leppard
- 12. Visit the UCDavis' Bee Haven Or a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment
- 13. Other Reasons toTake a Seminar • They're only a unit or two • Take a class about a topic outside of your major • Learn to: (1) Conduct research (2) Present your ideas orally (3) Work in groups (4) Develop yourself in general
- 14. Every seminar hasa detailed description at cetl.ucdavis.edu/first-year-seminars Read complete first-year seminar profiles about the seminar examples in this presentation on the CETL website
- 15. Seminars Shown inthis Presentation in order of depiction • Rocket Propulsion by Mohamed Hafez • Art, Bees, and Survival by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick • Japanese Culture: Nature and Visual Arts by Haruko Sakakibara • Creative Responses to Climate Change by Stephen Wheeler • Psychology of Drummers by Brad Henderson • Mapping the Harlem Renaissance by Phillip Barron • So You Think You Can Write? by Amy Clarke
- 16. Photo Credit • Rocketphotos by Mohamed Hafez • Ceramic Art photos by Jenna Christopherson • Flower Arrangement photo by Haruko Sakakibara • "Thursday" image by Stephen Wheeler • Origami, Psychology of Drummer, and Harlem Renaissance photos by Ryder Blue • Dawn Sumner photo from the UC Davis Geology Website • Rick Allen, Kim Stanley Robinson, and CAVE image from Wikipedia