Re-Discover the Child

3 units

It is said that at this time in history the entire country must make a commitment to improve the positive possibilities of education. We must work to lift people who are underserved; we must expand the range of abilities for those who are caught in only one kind of training; and we must each learn to be creative thinkers contributing our abilities to many sectors of our society. In this course, during the semester we will expand our views about learning by experimenting with the creative process of lateral thinking. We will learn about learning by meeting with some brilliant people at the university and in the St. Louis community who are exceptional in the scholarly, professional, and civic engagement work they are accomplishing. We will learn about learning by working in teams to develop exciting curricula (based upon the knowledge and passion WU students bring from their academic studies and range of interests) for middle school students from economically disadvantaged urban families. Each week of the semester, we will learn about learning by giving 2-D / 3-D hands-on problem solving workshops, once a week for one hour each week, for elementary school students. You and your WU teammate will implement the workshops you create. In this course we celebrate the choices of studies we each pursue, and we expand our experience in learning from each other's knowledge bases and learning from each person's particular creativity in problem-solving. This course seeks students from all disciplines and schools, freshmen through seniors. Course fee applies to mandatory background check and is not refundable.