The student as teacher: reflections on collaborative learning in a senior seminar

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Bloom's Taxonomy has influenced education since the 1950s, aiming for holistic student development.
• Higher education traditionally relies on lecture-based models with instructors as sole experts.
• The traditional model faces challenges when students take on instructional roles or when exploring emerging fields.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a collaborative seminar model for an emerging field (embodied cognition).
• To assess student satisfaction and perceived learning in a course where the instructor acts as an equal.
• To explore the effectiveness of shared expertise in higher education settings.

Main Methods:

• A senior-level seminar course focused on embodied cognition, integrating psychology and neuroscience.
• Students and the instructor collaboratively explored the emerging field, with neither party being a pre-existing expert.
• Student feedback and evaluations were collected at three points: pre-course, midterm, and end-of-semester.

Main Results:

• Student feedback indicated high levels of satisfaction with the collaborative seminar format.
• Students reported significant perceived learning gains throughout the semester.
• Midterm and final evaluations confirmed positive student experiences and learning.

Conclusions:

• A collaborative seminar approach, with the instructor as an equal, can be highly effective in emerging fields.
• This pedagogical model fosters greater student engagement and a stronger sense of ownership in the learning process.
• The findings suggest this approach may be beneficial for other seminar or course formats in higher education.