Friday, August 27, 1971

Tutorials To Begin In Earnest

by Anne Walter

This fall, Grinnell College's

no requirement program will
begin in earnest with the
freshman tutorial. The tutor
rial evolved out of the re
quirements’ debates asan ini-
tial active step towards enr
hancing education at Grinnell.

Briefly, the tutorial is den
signed to take over part of
the role of the originallyrrer
quired Humanities courses,
especially the improved writ
ting skills; to improve theaca-
demic advising system by
bringing freshmen into closer
and more frequent contact with
their freshman advisor; and
to introduce the student to a
variety of new ways of lear-
ning, possibly by means of
well-guided independent stun
dy and seminar-type discus-
sions.

The tutorials will be groups
of 12 or fewer freshmen taught
by a professor who will be
spending time with students
individually, in groups of 3
or 4 and as an entire group.
Many tutorials will be orga-
nized around literature that
the entire group will have in
common. The students will
then branch out from the broad
central topic and study some
aspect of it in depth.

Most tutorials will also have
a student colleague, an upper
class student who will assist
with academic advising, dis-
cussions, and paperrwriting
according to the professor's
wishes. It is hoped that the
student colleagues prove tobe
especially valuable to the pro-
gram, both for their added

perspective to advising andas
a second andperhaps more in-
formal resource . discussion
person.

Emphasis on writing and
communications will vary de~
pending on the professor and
student involved. Most likely
these skills will be developed
along with the subject being
examined and willprobably not
be pursued for their own sake
alone.

A tutorial may be readily be
taught without coupling it to
academic advising, but ads
vising can be improved by
being associated with the tu-
torial.

Hopefully, the students and
professors will become well
enough acquainted to make
serious advisingpossible ears
ly in the student's college
career. Although being both
tutor and advisor may pose
some problems for the pros
fessors, hopefully this closer
relationship with freshmen
advisees will prove more re
warding than the infrequent
conmct thatadvisors formerly
had with freshmen.

Comments have been made to
the (effect that the freshman
and sophomore years of col-

lege are much like high- school
extended. Tutorial—like stu-
dies are a means of breaking
this pattern, since they offer
new modes of learning and by
their diversity andﬂexibiliby,
allow the student to begin his
college career by pursuinga
subject that really interests
him. The 34 tutorials being
offered this semester are
drawn from disciplines ranr

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THE SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Seven

The Computer Generation

by Ja ck Doppl at

If you live in Gates or
Dibble and are wondering why
your room looks livedin, it's
because one of thirQPsix Iowa
high school students attending
a seminar in computerhas oc-
cupied the room the last three
days.

The Computer Program'
ming Workshop, directed by
Robert Christiansen, is de-
signed to provide more than
a course in computers, ac
cording to Eugene Herman,
who is assisting Christiansen
in conductin the seminar, the
course is intended to give
the students, all from Iowa
and with some interest in the
sciences, a taste of Grinnell
life and Grinnell edumtion.
The seminar was still in pro»
g-ress as new students are

ging from the pure sciences
to the fine arts, and each inc
dividual tutorial seems to of
fer unlimited possibilities for
further study within the de—
signated topic. This could be
one of the greatest strengths
of the tutorial program here,
since a student would bestud‘
ying something in which he is
very interested. This Semesr
ter, amazingly enough, about

300 freshmen have been assi‘
gned to their first or second
tutorial choice, andonly9 stu-
dents had to be placed in their
fifth chOICE.

The tutorial programhasun-
limited possibilities. Its suc-
cess or failure, as is true of
most academic pursuits. de-

pends largely on the mutual’

efforts of the students and
professors involved. The pro-
gram could have potential as
a revitalizing force for the
school in that‘s freshman e-
merging from such a learning
experience will ideally be a
more excited student and one
better prepared to utilize se-
veral different methods of in-
quiry throughout his college
career.

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rived today, but seminar stu'
dents will be out of the dorr
mitories tomorrow morning.
The workshop is an attempt
to alleviate the shortage of
Iowa students applying forad-
mission to Grinnelli It also
gives the students, who have
already manifested their in7
terest in mathematics by at’
tending the seminar, a chance
to become acquainted with the
Grinnell mathematics faculty.
The workshop was loosely
structured with only a few
hour- long leCtures. Practical
experience with the program—
ming and keypunching was
stressed. According to Mr.
Herman, students were very
enthusiastic and productive
during their stay. The high
schoolers were far more ens
thusiastic about the compuv

ter than, say, most calculus
students at Grinnell usually
are.

Students mingled with the
computer during the day and
terrorized the campus by
night. It was in the Grinnell
tradition, a healthy mixture of
academics and social relaxa-
tion. Christiansen said that
many of the students spent
the early evening hours wor-
king on computer problems.
The 5&8 interviewed three
students; all enjoyed the cm
urse, the atmosphere ofGrin-
hell, and even SAGA food. They
confessed only a passing inc
terest in mathematicsas such,
but value their experiencewith
computer programming. None
of the three plan, at this time,
to apply to Grinnell.Thatdoes
not compute.

 

 

Dean’s List

Second semester of last year saw a fifty percent increase
in the number of students named to the Dean's List. Only
219 students were honored first semester; 349 students were
listed during second semester, the first time students could
register under the relaxed graduation requirements.

To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must earn at
least a 3.5 grade average for the given semester. Credit-
Fail courses are not counted in computing this average, un-
less the student fails such a course; in this casea grade of
"F" is entered for that course.

The overall grade average for second semester work last
year was 3.12, up nearly .3 from first semester.

The cause of the high grade average is now being studied
by the administration. There jiaLQ1§§IVIOn whgtller the; in-
crease is due to increased student enthusiasm lastis'em‘e‘ster
under the reduced requirements or to credit-fail options--
also relaxed effective last semester, which allow a student
to take up to half his credit hours in a given semester on a
credit-fail basis, or to other factors.

Register for Peace

A state~wide REGISTER FOR PEACE conference will be
held August 28 and 29 at Iowa Smte University in Ames.
REGISTERFOR PEACE is part of a national movement to
mobilize anti»war and reform sentiment into an effective
political force for the 1972 elections, and the conference
will deal with the organizational and technical knowledge
needed to gain political power in Iowa. There are 350,000
18-24 year olds in Iowa eligible to vote inapresidental
election for the first time.

Conference speakers will be former Democratic Congresr
sman and national antirwar spokesman ALLARD K. LOWENA
STEIN of New York, and an equally prominent liberal Re»
publican.

Delegates may register for the conference between 10 am.
and noon Saturday, August 28, in the Student Center at the
University. The fee for attendance and lodgings will be
$5.00, and delegates will purchase meals on their own.
A spokesman for the REGISTER FOR PEACE Conference
told the 5&8 Thursday that any students would be welcome

to attend, "provided they are willing to pay the five dollar
registration fee."

Faculty Leaves

Seven faculty members willbe on leave duringthe first semes-
ter of the 1971-72 academic year. Returning to the faculty
from leaves last year are seven faculty.

Philip Bays, chemistry; Wayne Denny, physics; James Kiss
sane, English; Neal Milner, political science; and Stephen
Syverud, music will be on leave from Grinnell for the entire
academic year. Brian Harris, German; and Duane Kexel,
economics, will be on leave only during the first semester.

Returning from leaves are Richard Cervene, art; Edward
Foster, English; Edwin Gilmour, political science; Jean King,
physical education; Ralph Luehben, anthrophology, Guillermo
mendoza, biology; and Thomas Schlereth, history.

ID Cards

Students will be required'to show their identification cards
at all meals this year, because only one set of the cards will
be made, according to Ralph Pomerenk.

SAGA will not have sets of the cards with which to check
students who have forgotten to bring their ID’s, so students
will be asked to get their cards before being admitted to the
dining halls (after the cards have been issued, that is.)

SAGA expects to speed the flow of the line at mealtime if
students get into the habit of carrying the cards.

 

