Student Originated Studies: Human Development

Student Originated Studies: Human Development offers advanced and well-prepared students an opportunity to design a course of study that acts on an academic interest in an area of human development; for example, a student musician who is interested in how humans develop musicianship, a student writer who wishes to document how the process of writing is developed, or a student who wonders how morality and a commitment to social justice is developed. The first two weeks of the quarter will ground students' understanding of stage theory as a model of human development, review research methodology, and introduce the workshop method of instruction. At the same time students will identify their interests in a specific area of human development. During the third week, students will design an independent human development research project and submit it for faculty approval. A month of centered independent research and individual progress meetings with faculty will follow. The last three weeks of the quarter will be devoted to "intra-disciplinary" collaborative learning, which requires each student to design and conduct a workshop that involves program participants in actively learning about the student's chosen area of human development.