An Experiment in Integrated Learning: Baseball in American Life and Culture

Presenter Information

Michael R. Wright II

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

SURC 135

Start Date

17-5-2012

End Date

17-5-2012

Abstract

This session will look at a course created for and taught in the William O. Douglas Honors College. "Baseball in American Life and Culture" was designed to incorporate learning from a wide range of disciplines into a cohesively focused topic. Using baseball as the matrix subject, the course, team-taught by two faculty from very different academic backgrounds (Dr. Liahna Armstrong, whose expertise is in film and literature, and Dr. Wayne Quirk, whose discipline is biology) examined the historical, artistic, political, economic, legal, literary, cinematic, sociological, and scientific facets of the game. We addressed how it has been shaped by and shapes American culture; how it stands as a mythic centerpiece to American life; how it brings people together or divides them; how it reinforces and at the same time challenges standard gender roles, class status, and racial attitudes; how it illuminates scientific principles involving human physiology, the physics of motion, and the mathematics of statistics; how it underscores and offers insight into historical and cultural trends in American life. Presenters (both the instructors and the student participants) will discuss pedagogy of the course (teaching and learning strategies), content, and student engagement.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Dominic Klyve

Additional Mentoring Department

Mathematics

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
May 17th, 4:50 PM May 17th, 5:10 PM

An Experiment in Integrated Learning: Baseball in American Life and Culture

SURC 135

This session will look at a course created for and taught in the William O. Douglas Honors College. "Baseball in American Life and Culture" was designed to incorporate learning from a wide range of disciplines into a cohesively focused topic. Using baseball as the matrix subject, the course, team-taught by two faculty from very different academic backgrounds (Dr. Liahna Armstrong, whose expertise is in film and literature, and Dr. Wayne Quirk, whose discipline is biology) examined the historical, artistic, political, economic, legal, literary, cinematic, sociological, and scientific facets of the game. We addressed how it has been shaped by and shapes American culture; how it stands as a mythic centerpiece to American life; how it brings people together or divides them; how it reinforces and at the same time challenges standard gender roles, class status, and racial attitudes; how it illuminates scientific principles involving human physiology, the physics of motion, and the mathematics of statistics; how it underscores and offers insight into historical and cultural trends in American life. Presenters (both the instructors and the student participants) will discuss pedagogy of the course (teaching and learning strategies), content, and student engagement.