another section of the room. Even more begin to: :
question Peirce’s unqualified endorsement of science as
the sole method of seeking truth. A simple room
rearrangement has brought to life a central issue of .'\:
epistemology which will occupy the class for:much of... ;
the quarter. CERES ARON. siege

 

  

Hidden Benefits of the Exercise

Raising questions about serious issues which affect
students’ sense of themselves and their place in the
world (and what issue does that more than the ques-
tion of God’s existence?) is necessarily touchy. Ordi- :
narily, those few students willing to voice unpopular
opinions suffer for them. But when every student is —
forced to take a stand, and no stand emerges as the
clearly “correct” one, pressure to conform gives way to
the challenge of critical thought. In addition, critical
thinking is now associated not with tense confronta-
tions but with the fun of shifting chairs, a spirit of
levity the instructor can easily reinforce. (I like to close
the day’s discussion of Peirce by raising the projection
screen I’ve pulled down to conceal the chalkboard
annotation behind my own chair: ‘Sit up here if you
ARE God.)

SEVE ae

Not every classroom at Atlanta Metropolitan *
College has as many chalkboards as the one in which I
prefer to teach philosophy, and I have to fight the math
instructors for it. In other classes here, teachers some-
times adapt the technique with hand-lettered posters
directing students to particular areas of a classroom,
but chalkboard directions are quicker and easier. ‘Still,
set-up time is a concern. Ideally, the room should be’
ready before most students arrive for class, not always
an easy task when back-to-back scheduling is the norm.
Probably the best room is one with plenty of desks and
chalkboards but no class scheduled during the previ-
ous hour. I’ve found that repeatedly leaving my chairs
in weird arrangements encourages other instructors—
especially the math faculty—to request new room
assignments, as far from humanities classes as possible!

Ron Chandonia, Associate Professor, English —
For further information, contact the author at Atlanta

Metropolitan College, 1630 Stewart Avenue, S.W.,
Atlanta,GA 30310.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

September 20, 1991, Vol. XIll, No. 20 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1991 "Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER 78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kéllogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly
institutions for their own personnel. when classés are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.

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