乐播传媒

During the last week of classes for the fall semester, two instructors, two classes, and one rabbit gathered together for an interdisciplinary, interactive first-year seminar class session.

It was easy to tell who was from which course. Students from 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow: Exploring the Language (and the Science, Art, and Culture) of Color鈥� had all walked in sporting colorful hats. Joining them in a classroom in Dana Hall were students from 鈥淪ex in the Brain: The Neuroscience of Sex, Gender, and Hormones.鈥� 

While it is typical for students to grow close in these small  鈥� 16 students maximum 鈥� seminars, this merging of the courses for a class session was a new idea, meant to create new connections between both the subjects and students as the semester came to a close.

Lindsey Hamilton 鈥�05, director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning, and Wells Castonguay, the center鈥檚 assistant director, devised the plan. Castonguay was teaching 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow鈥� and Hamilton 鈥淪ex in the Brain.鈥� Throughout the semester, each instructor had heard students鈥� ongoing curiosity about the other鈥檚 course and saw an opportunity for the students to learn from each other.

Ina Dobreva 鈥�29 of Sofia, Bulgaria was in 鈥淪ex in the Brain,鈥� while her friend Celina Carman 鈥�29 of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was in 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow,鈥� and the two had often talked about the similarities between their two courses.

鈥淲e were saying every time, 鈥榃e have the same course, just in a different font,鈥欌�� Dobreva said.

Both courses were highly interdisciplinary, as first-year seminars (FYS in 乐播传媒 speak) are designed to be. 鈥淪ex in the Brain鈥� explored everything from neuroscience to endocrinology to human behavior, while 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow鈥� focused on subjects like physics, neurobiology, and language.

When the classes came together, it was a lively scene, with students swapping knowledge, playing games, and petting Patience, Castonguay鈥檚 foster rabbit, who lounged in a playpen. (Patience, not a regular visitor to the class, was making a special appearance to celebrate the end of the semester.) 

All first-year 乐播传媒 students are required to take an FYS. As entry points to 乐播传媒鈥� rigorous and diverse curriculum, the courses aim to transition students to college-level writing and set them up for academic success. FYS instructors serve as advisors to their students until they declare their majors. 

FYS offers students an opportunity to take a class in a field that might be new and unfamiliar to them. In fact, students shouldn鈥檛 necessarily take an FYS related to the subject they plan to major in, Hamilton explained. 鈥淚t really doesn’t matter which topic you get,鈥� Hamilton said. 鈥淵ou learn so much in critical thinking.鈥�

Hamilton is speaking from experience 鈥� both as an instructor and a 乐播传媒 alumna. When she arrived at 乐播传媒 as a first-year student, she was 鈥渓aser-focused鈥� on neuroscience, until the liberal arts curriculum introduced her to interdisciplinary possibilities.

鈥淎s I took other courses, I started to get really excited,鈥� Hamilton said. 鈥淢y own FYS here at 乐播传媒 was awesome.鈥� 

With small class sizes, first-year seminars also play an important social role for new 乐播传媒ies.

鈥淲e all became friends over the course of the semester,鈥� said Wynn Harward 鈥�29 of Erie, Penn., a 鈥淪ex in the Brain鈥� student. 鈥淚 look forward to class every day.鈥�

The FYS students shared what they鈥檝e learned with their peers during presentations on each course. First, 鈥淪ex in the Brain鈥� students Dobreva, Harward, Regan Clute 鈥�29 of Tahoe City, Calif., and Sofia Rossi 鈥�29 of Memphis, Tenn., gave a presentation about behavioral differences between sexes. They dipped into their knowledge of both hormones and societal gender expectations to explain how sex differences are biologically, socially, and culturally based.

The students demonstrated sex differences by reading a list of behavioral traits and asking peers, with their hands in the air, to lower a finger for each trait that they felt represented them, such as, 鈥淧ut a finger down if you instantly notice when someone changes perfume, deodorant, or shampoo.鈥�

At the end of the activity, there was a clear divide: far fewer fingers were left standing among the female-presenting students.鈥淚t was really interesting to see 鈥� even with something that seems almost ridiculous, but it is topical 鈥� there really is a difference,鈥� Clute said.

Then Ruby Wiley 鈥�29 of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Skye Pearlman 鈥�29 of Harrison, N.Y., and Evelyn Hoskins-Hynek 鈥�29 of Silver Spring, Md., gave a presentation about 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow鈥� for the other students, covering everything from the eye鈥檚 rods and cones to how language impacts perception of color. 

To demonstrate the latter, the presenters asked their peers to redraw and rename color boundaries from those of the typical ROYGBIV spectrum created by Isaac Newton (that鈥檚 red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Students got creative with the possibilities here; one divided the spectrum into five categories with nature-inspired names like 鈥渇lower鈥� and 鈥済rape,鈥� while another divided the spectrum into three colors named after high school science courses: 鈥渃hemistry,鈥� 鈥渂iology,鈥� and 鈥減hysics.鈥�

鈥淩ainbows are just a spectrum of hues,鈥� Wiley said. 鈥淭here’s also value and chroma and so many countless ways to divide up the color space, which we see in a lot of different languages.鈥�

While presenting, Wiley was sporting a baby blue hat with 鈥渘eela鈥� (romanized 啜ㄠ﹢啜侧ň), the Punjabi word for colors that fall into English category of “blue,” written across the front. The colorful hats were connected to two different assignments from the semester, the first being an essay about a favorite color and, the second, an independent research project.

鈥淎 narrative essay about our favorite color sounds simple, but it wasn’t just, 鈥極h, my favorite color is baby blue,鈥欌�� Wiley said. 鈥淚t was, 鈥榃hy is it baby blue, and how would you define it? What makes it your favorite color?鈥� It’s a writing class. We were focusing on our creative writing skills there.鈥� 

For the other assignment, students had interviewed someone who spoke a different language to learn about how they categorized color. So, for the final class session, Castonguay brought each student a hat in their favorite color and asked them to write the name of the color, in the language of the person they had interviewed, on the front of the hat, combining the results of the two assignments to offer a glimpse into what the course covered 鈥� from linguistics to cultural interpretations of color to personal experiences. 

鈥淲ells just made everything enjoyable,鈥� Ruby Wiley 鈥�29 of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, said. 鈥淪he made sure to make it engaging no matter what we did.鈥� 

In preparation for the joint class, all of the students, working in groups, had prepared presentations about the semester. The final groups from each respective class were chosen by their peers to present at the joint session. 

Castonguay said that their students didn鈥檛 realize just how much they had learned and how many subject areas they had covered throughout the semester until they began preparing the presentation.

鈥淚t was fun when they were preparing for this class hearing them say, 鈥榃ait, I have to teach that. They’re not going to know that,鈥欌�� Castonguay said.

After the presentation, Castonguay overheard a conversation between one of their students and a 鈥淪ex in the Brain鈥� student amazed at everything that 鈥淏eyond the Rainbow鈥� had covered. As Castonguay recounted, 鈥渢hey said, 鈥榊ou really learned all of that? You learned physics and neurobiology?鈥欌��

鈥淵es,鈥� Castonguay鈥檚 student answered. In one semester, they really had learned all of that.

Faculty Featured

Wells Castonguay

Assistant Director - Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning

Lindsey R. Hamilton Ph.D.

Visiting Lecturer and Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching & Learning