In Fall 2010, Meredith College will launch a new academic opportunity to help students improve their critical thinking skills.
Known as the Meredith College PRISM Experience, this program will benefit students throughout their four-years at Meredith, and will provide multiple opportunities for reflection, intellectual engagement and action.
PRISM stands for Purposeful Reasoning, Inquiry and Scholarship at Meredith.
Elements include a discipline-focused freshmen seminar, followed by infusing critical thinking tools and strategies into existing courses, and supplemental experiences outside of the classroom.
Starting fall semester 2010, freshmen entering Meredith College may participate in one of several discipline-based seminars. Students will begin to develop essential critical thinking skills within a course that encourages them to think about a specific topic or issue. Students will also reflect on their own thinking and assess their development. The freshmen seminar provides a foundation of critical thinking skills.
Discipline Specific Programs
As students move into mid- or upper-level courses in their major, they will expand their critical thinking skills within their chosen discipline. Students will learn to apply critical thinking skills in unique ways that are specific to their field of interest. Departments will identify certain courses that represent a “mid-level” application of critical thinking within the discipline. Through these upper-division courses and capstone experiences, students will develop more independent inquiry, scholarship and expression of creative thought.
Critical Thinking Outside the Classroom
Since students learn inside and outside the classroom, they will be encouraged to apply critical thinking skills in different aspects of their lives. A series of lecture discussions and experiential components to courses will provide opportunities for intellectual engagement, while leadership and student development programs will assist students in reflecting on their learning and turn learning into action. In this way, students will think beyond the classroom, and eventually beyond their Meredith College experience.
Date Submitted: 2010-01-28
Phone: (919) 760-8087