Honors College Colloquium: Understanding The Science of STEM Learning

When it comes to being a proactive science learner, it’s a matter of asking good questions. But sometimes you might be asking yourself, “why don’t I get it?”

So, why is science easy for some students but not for others? And what does it take to become a good learner?

Dr. Ann Cavallo will answer these and other questions at the upcoming Honors Colloquium. Dr. Cavallo said there are many factors to take into account when it comes to studying science and there’s not one magic method of learning. She’ll speak in more detail about the development of reasoning skills and — in particular — the differences between cognitive and affective learning.

Dr. Cavallo said the affective learning applies to self-efficacy, confidence and motivational factors while cognitive learning applies to logic and reasoning skills.

She also said the way students learn a set of reasoning skills that are required for science that may not apply to other subjects — like history. It’s all about learning how to change the approach between subjects. Continue reading

Honors College Colloquium: Fake News & Alternative Facts

Fake news isn’t a new term. During the Weekend Update, Saturday Night Live’s satirical news segment, anchor Norm McDonald would start it off with “Good evening — and now for the fake news.”

The segment was good for laughs. But today, “fake news” in the public eye has gone from satire towards a more problematic tone of propaganda.

In the age of the continuous social media feed, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to suss out the truth from falsehoods. Since the last presidential election, the term has been thrown around by all sides of the political field.

Communications professor Dr. Mark Tremayne studies ways to fact check what is said in the media. He said the fake news phenomena is fueled by hyper-partisan politics that dominate the public landscape. He also said the filter bubble of social networking has contributed greatly to the ideological divide.

This Friday, he’ll teach students about the relevance of media literacy, its significance for American democracy and the way journalism has gone through phases of objectivity and partisanship.

Continue reading