Four Penn State educators have four very different plans for the upcoming summer. While one is venturing out west to teach a class, and another is taking students to Philadelphia, two are spending the lazy days of summer teaching courses here in Happy Valley.
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As a professor in the Department of Geosciences, Don Fisher has spent the past 10 summers taking students out west to study rocks.
Spanning various states and territory in Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Teton National Park and the Beartooth Mountains, Fisher said GEOSC 471/472 (Field Geology I and II) is a capstone course in the geoscience major.
"Certainly for teaching geology and teaching about the earth, there's only so much you can do within the classroom," he said. "You can talk about all the examples out there, but I don't think there's anything better than actually showing the examples."
However, Fisher maintains that the six-week field experience is not a "show and tell" -- the class is quite a challenge. Students are not merely observing rocks, Fisher said, they are using geologic field methods to survey and classify the surroundings.
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Fifteen years ago, Lakshman Yapa, a professor in the Department of Geography, created a service-learning project that allows Penn State students to spend part of their summer with low-income individuals in western Philadelphia.
Rethinking Urban Poverty: The Philadelphia Field Project is a service-learning project that extends beyond the six-week stay in Philly, since students must create a personal research project as part of a yearlong Penn State course once they return from the city.
Since the program began, Yapa said more than 60 student-developed outreach programs have been implemented.
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Penn State doctoral candidate and Learning Edge Academic Program instructor Michael DuBose said he is excited to teach students on campus this summer.
As an ENGL 015 (Rhetoric and Composition) teacher with experience teaching during the fall and spring, DuBose said meeting every day during summer session instead of two or three times a week makes for more active participation because students know each other and instructors better.
"Teaching over the summer is a more intimate experience for both students and instructors," he said. "You get to know students pretty well -- and they get to know each other -- when you spend that much time together."
But despite his enthusiasm, DuBose said summer session forces students and professors to cover material quickly.
"There is a lot of work involved," he said. "Anytime you take a course that is normally taught in 15 weeks and stuff it into six weeks, both students and the instructor need to be on their toes and comfortable in their environment."
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Penn State graduate student Kerry Michael said she is excited to teach psychology and biobehavioral health classes at University Park this summer. While Michael is not required to teach the courses, she said she finds the subject matter fascinating and likes to share that with students.
A teaching assistant during the fall and spring, Michael thinks learning during summer session is more intense than during the academic year, and allows a more complete immersion in the material, as students are in the class every day.
However, summer session does present some unique challenges for professors, she said.
"It can be difficult to compete with the sun," she said.
