What is an American college classroom like？The diary of an overseas student takes you through the American university classroom 4631
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Diary 1: The first impression of school
Enrolled in an undergraduate course, How the earth works.，Not many classes (65 minutes/time ×3 times/week)，Add X hour，See the teaching progress at any time to add lessons;The experiment is 3 class hours one afternoon per week)，But very lean (3 courses a semester，I don't teach you too much after an hour，A few times can keep students' attention better)。
Each week there are large and small exams (a 10-week course is 8 10 - to 15-minute quizzes +2 mid-period exams +1 three-hour final exam for a total of 11 exams，The weekly test is 10 to 15 minutes out of 65 minutes)，Usually leave some homework to help preview，The problem alone is enough for the teacher's time。
It is a must to preview a chapter before class, otherwise it is difficult to keep up with the pace of the class。
The PPT is the most beautiful one I have ever seen. The pictures, animation and videos are abundant, and the text is concise. The classroom has four or five kinds of lighting combinations for teachers to choose from, creating a classroom atmosphere like listening to a class in a museum or shooting a scientific and educational film。Time-sensitive, for example, a new scientific discovery (including video) from two weeks ago can be included in class assignments and discussions, but students are required to propose hypotheses and tests in advance to explain a natural phenomenon。
One hour of class can be asked thirty or forty times, a few students around the frequent raise their hands to answer, just feel like an outsider。More than half of the 60 students took computers to class, but they were used to take notes. The Wifi signal was good but no one was online, the typing sound was as if they were in the GRE examination room, and no one fiddled with their mobile phones. Both men and women were busy taking notes。In addition to listening, the rhythm of the whole class is note-taking, thinking, group discussion and question and answer。
Three courses a semester is enough for them to keep busy, but these people also like sports and club activities, can only marvel at its high time efficiency。Graduate classes are a little more relaxed and tend to focus on scientific development, thinking, and criticism rather than knowledge teaching, but there is a lot of reading。
此外，The library and computer center provide a seamless connection to the classroom，Advanced and rich service resources，For example, the textbooks are expensive，The library will provide 4 books on the front desk shelf for reservation and viewing，You can also make copies on the copier，Or scan the textbook, enter the email address, and send it directly to your own email (until the class has not seen the USB flash drive)。Top class, top service, really impressive。
There are dozens of pages of shale gas in the pre-class reading material, and tomorrow I will spend a class devoted to it. I am once again amazed at the timeliness of the class, not only scientific progress, but also industrial innovation. Compared with the old and written content of the domestic classroom, how happy the students here are!
From the reading, I also saw the different prospects of the science major, the original graduation not only can do research, but also have many opportunities to work in the industry, just like the guest alumni who will meet tomorrow。
Let's talk about shale gas, a new energy source that will change the world's energy landscape, change the process of climate change and its negotiations and research, and mainly rely on it for the steady decline of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in recent years (China is still growing rapidly, and the pressure to reduce emissions is unprecedented).。This is despite the environmental risks of mining，But American businesses and voters are more willing to bet on bold technological innovations and gains;And in traditionally conservative Europe，It is hard to expect such surprises，Opposition in the name of environmental protection is holding back newer, less advanced technologies in the United States (GM is no different)，American wisdom lies in knowing the risks and daring to deal with them，And inspired more advanced technology);Energy-hungry China has the ambition but lacks the commercial know-how，Even if the technology is available a few years later, once it's developed on a large scale,，It is not clear whether they have encountered restrictions。
And by the time some materials are translated into Chinese and retrieved, several years have passed, and the United States has gone further ahead, so it is not unreasonable to "study abroad in the United States.。
I took my first undergraduate experimental course, which was completely different from my previous geoscience training。
The amount of questions is huge, first by observing a variety of maps, and then out of a lot of why the question is big, it is a test of observation, comparison, imagination, and group discussion, but the answer is independent of each other。It's also computationally intensive, though none too difficult, to bring Google Earth into the classroom。If you don't finish, you have a week to find your own data solutions, and the map and computer LABS are open 24/7 for students to use。Clever questions take scientific understanding one step at a time (it takes a lot of work to design these questions), until they finally explain plate motion as if they had made an important discovery。
Domestic classrooms like to teach and remember facts, here more emphasis on their own derivation and discovery, even an experimental class is like completing a complete exploratory research。And because of the amount of homework in each class，The class results are spread over nearly 30 training tasks (the teaching system has several emails each week to remind you of progress and grades)，Be under constant pressure，The library is still full of study and discussion at midnight)，I want to study for a week or two，Get good marks，Out of the question。
It is said that such classroom training starts at an early age, so it is not difficult to understand the difference in Chinese and American students and science levels after many years。Students interested in geography can also take a two-and-a-half month stretch course, fly to Canada, and then drive around the major geological regions of the United States to study geography, with two trucks of teaching equipment alone。
The school pays all the expenses, and a dozen teachers and graduate assistants from the department fly in to meet, each with a week or two of classes。Come back and see them alive and kicking, how come you don't feel tired？
After that, the experimental class of 20 students went out frequently, the teacher and the teaching assistant drove two cars (the school had dozens of cars for teaching purposes, and the teacher could borrow them to drive to various places at the school's expense), and dragged the students to two nearby states to investigate geology and resources。There is no need to wait until the summer vacation to concentrate on the practice for a few days, and the content explained in the week will be finished in the week。
I was stumped by a Take home test. I tried to look it up but couldn't figure it out, so I muddled through with a few words to meet the deadline。The T.A. 's asked me how I felt, and I wasn't afraid to tell them, you know。She gave me a drawing on the paper to explain again, understanding suddenly clear, really need to have a systematic knowledge structure to grasp the gist。
She asked me if I would like to take it back and finish it, it doesn't matter if it's a few days later, or just hand it in, what can you say, haha。She said that if the teaching assistant can not let me learn the course, it will be her dereliction of duty (This is enough if the teacher said it, even the teaching assistant is so serious and responsible, admire)。
After discussing Chinese and American classrooms with her, I realized that there was a difference in philosophy。We are used to two roles of teachers and students, assigned topics are completed by students, do not ask the teacher in the process of doing the problem, to ask can only be proved that you have done wrong, and is in the class unified explanation。
here，There is also a third type of role, the teaching assistant (there are seven teaching assistants for this 60-person undergraduate course with LABS - and four for graduate students)，Three senior undergraduate assistants in geology，Were divided into three groups of 20 people in an experimental class，It's also a big test of the teaching assistant's knowledge)，You can talk to your teaching assistant or teacher when you complete the assignment，Graduate teaching assistants also have time each week to attend classes, answer questions, and correct homework papers，That adds up to one day a week (one of graduate students' obligations is to work as a teaching assistant in several courses).。
Teachers and students like to ask questions and discuss，There are also group cooperative learning (discussing ideas rather than copying homework).，It also doesn't involve competing for high and low scores (not doing it behind closed doors).，Completed assignments and tests are never explained in class，Because when we revise the paper, we will write the key words of the answer next to each wrong question，Let the students experience it for themselves，Answer questions if you don't understand，It's really personalized education through to the end。When homework is done well, students will write some encouraging words or draw some interesting pictures. On one campus field trip, they got a lot of wrong answers, and the feedback was "××, if you want to go to the rocks again, I will be happy to accompany you."。
Not only that, there is not a place to find the lab students to ask, even if they are also under a lot of homework tasks, they will readily take time to explain to you。Some students like to draw on the blackboard, and others like to sit or even lie on the floor to discuss with you, which makes me like to sit on the floor。When I was in China, I was the kind of student who liked to ask questions, but I still liked to do my homework alone. Now it seems that I need to slowly adapt to the local culture and switch to the mode here。(There are also teaching assistants in China, but they do not have such detailed tasks and key roles, and teachers generally answer questions before the final exam, in fact, not many people will spend more time on undergraduates, and it is better to do more research and multiple papers。The result is that the foundation of graduates is not solid, the theory is divorced from reality, the role of test scores is more reflected in the evaluation of excellence and research, graduate students also lack of development momentum because of narrow knowledge and ideas after graduation。）
I have said before that the classroom atmosphere here is very good, can not find people to play mobile phones or sleep and chat, etc., the computer is used to look up information and take notes。The lecturer asked questions frequently, and the students responded positively. At most, 15 or 16 people raised their hands at the same time to answer (accounting for 1/4 of the class).。
Weekly tests, homework and heavy reading，That's more than 30 missions，It shows up in the last 100 points，The teaching system has several emails a week to remind you of progress and scores，Enough to ensure that "last-minute cramming" is impossible，I work every week，Even at one or two o 'clock in the morning there are still hundreds of people studying in the library。
The experiment class is about to finish the class project, and I randomly team up with two quiet Americans. The topic is "Show 5 geological concepts learned in class, and use at least 5 minerals and 5 rocks as examples".。
When this topic is obtained in China, the students in nine out of ten are to take a few stones and say a few words to prove that they have memorized the characteristics of the rocks and have the ability to identify them。But in the United States, the development of things is completely beyond my imagination!These guys devise their own layered questions, asking themselves and answering them。And then I wrote a play out of it，It's about a Friday night in a bar，A conversation between friends and family members named after the rock，Start by talking about how you were born，Speaking of two types of rocks, how did the geological interaction lead to the formation of today's rocks，The analogy is to the relationship between parents and children (for example, the father fell to pieces while going to market or climbing a mountain)，Rolled down the cliff under gravity，And then I met my mom.)，Just like in the American TV show。
These 10 minerals and rocks are mentioned in the dialogue, but only some of them are described in detail with the characteristics of the rocks。When I saw the first two parts written by the two men in succession, it was amazing, full of imagination, the narrative is very interesting, and the key is to integrate scientific knowledge into daily life and so natural!
These guys could really be science writers, or screenwriters (these two teammates are not usually prominent in the class).。By the time I got to the third part of the story, I felt a little overwhelmed。Fortunately, I have been to the bar several times, and with the help of literary accumulation, I managed to continue this imaginative bold and humorous language style。Two more hours of discussion and rehearsal, and tomorrow or the next day dozens of groups will take turns in the class to perform their own stories, everyone is the protagonist。
This kind of natural science classroom can be expected to be vibrant and interesting, because their imagination and diversified thinking are too rich。100分？Full score of GPA？This is completely irrelevant, because truly innovative education and talent cannot be measured and restrained by such cold numbers (in fact, it is the teacher who encourages it), let alone dogmatic dead knowledge。And this is the essence of American education that I admire and look for。
It is still the most common experimental class topic, and the effect of the undergraduate students around me is surprisingly imaginative and interesting。The Rock and the band analogy，A group of self-created hand-drawn comics accompanied by text narrated fables，Family drama，Homemade rock dating series，quiz，Late-night bar fright...Each has its own merits，Full of interest，My part only lasts two or three minutes，But it has made teachers and classmates laugh three times，I had to laugh 30 or 40 times in just an hour and a half。I really appreciate the sense of humor of my American classmates, and I am also influenced by them。
The first class speech in the United States ended in a very successful way。Continue chatting with your classmates after class，Surprised to find that she didn't have textbooks until seventh grade，Public schools still use textbooks)，None for the last six years，The teacher took the children to do various exploratory projects together，Often in small groups，Completed a gradual difficulty of the task，No wonder they're so cooperative，Imagination again，It's been over a decade of work。When she was described, she was enthralled, I can see that primary school is her most unforgettable and happiest time!
Another course for which a Nepalese student is a teaching assistant has just had a midterm exam，Just hand out the paper，The professor and she both went back to their offices to do their own thing，At most, I will go to explain the meaning of some questions in the middle (the big questions are very long，Give background，Then give insights based on what you already know，There is no one standard answer，It's also a test for those who judge the papers，The point is that these tests are still frequent，Graduate students often help with grading.)。
There is no supervision, there is no need to emphasize what test discipline, and the result is that there is no cheating, no use of mobile phones and computers, and all focus on answering questions。If you can't answer the questions, you can leave them empty. When the test time is up, hand them in first。You can return tomorrow at the appointed time and place (most people will finish in class, not all courses have extra time).。
After my classmates and I discussed what would happen in their respective countries, we realized that some things were self-evident here: rules and credit (undergraduate students are automatically suspended for a year for cheating or fraud, graduate students are expelled;The professor trusts the students, and the students should follow suit.)。It's like when you don't play your mobile phone on silent in class, you do what you should do when you have a ruler in your heart。When you make them less serious, it only invites questions about why not?
Two tests a day，The semester is over!Something amazing happened in the examination room this morning，After taking the test for a while, three young students suddenly rushed in，One woman and two men，naked，Shouting "Happy final!"，While throwing candy around the room，Everyone bent over to pick up candy，What a happy final exam!Less than a minute later，A boy who had just gone to the bathroom and missed the excitement pushed the door in，All 60 students looked at him，Let out a roar of laughter，I thought they'd shoot back.)，I wonder if the boy figured out what was going on。
I heard it's a school tradition. Oh, how dare these students take it off!To change in a conservative country, the result may be a warning dismissal, or a fame, but it seems that the students around you have seen more is not strange。It was easy to talk about posters for the final class report in the afternoon，The dean bought a case of beer，My mother made delicious snacks (without the endless view from the balcony of his villa at the beginning of the semester)，Everyone sat or stood in front of the blackboard，Talk over a drink，It is said to be in the form of a poster for the annual meeting of the American Geographical Society，It looks casual but it's really professional。
The test questions are not all very innovative, there are still 1/3 of the basic questions, such as judging right or wrong and terminology interpretation。However, unlike in China, the interpretation of nouns is the reverse of the domestic postgraduate entrance examination. In China, a noun is given in the question, and students are asked to explain, pick details, and answer whether the answer is complete. Here, we give you one or two sentences to explain, and let students write the word。
Big questions are usually longer，Even lab classes and field trips，Can be a final exam，However, the focus is on analytical reasoning ability (implying observation and interpretation ability)，In fact, it is to cultivate scientific research quality in a subtle way)，Answer the general idea (encourage drawing) to get full marks，There is less emphasis on memorizing points than at home，By domestic standards，The best students in the same major are expected to score 80%。
When it comes to the assessment methods of undergraduate courses, China and the United States are also very different。It is almost impossible for American students to get full marks in the courses. From the perspective of my course, not only the basic knowledge and practical operation are examined, but also the broad knowledge outside the books, some of which are still very new scientific discoveries。The final score came from 20 or 30 tasks of different orders of magnitude and investigation purposes, although there were few difficult questions, but because of the wide range of problems and want to do it right, even senior professors may not be able to do it。
The results displayed at the end are graded ABCDE to five levels according to the score，For example, students with grades from 90 to 100 showed an A on their report card，In the eyes of the course teachers, they have reached the highest requirements of the course，Students have a lot of room for free play and collaborative discussion，You don't get your GPA，Haggle over every penny，You have to fight for a high score。
Results are completely confidential, there will be no class ranking, the teaching system will be weighted according to the scores of each homework test at any time to calculate the latest score, very objective and realistic, there will be an email to students every week。Qian Xuesen's educational ideology "does not encourage students to get 100 points, 80 points is enough, and spend more time on understanding and thinking", he is really influenced by the American concept。
Are final grades eligible for scholarships？There is no chance in my knowledge。Because it's not in the school's scholarship design，There are two main scholarships for undergraduates，One that recruits or rewards athletes (rewarding athletes is also rewarding a team)，Not an individual)，More common is Need-Based Scholarship，The school has a set of calculations，The student's annual household income, population size and necessary living expenses are considered，Figure out the amount of scholarship money that's due，For this reason, some people have received full awards of more than $60,000 per year (for example, the well-known Harvard girl Liu Yiting won the full award not because she is better than other students who did not win the award，But because of their family's financial difficulties)，More than half of the students received bonuses of varying amounts。
Such a system design，It guarantees access to the most nurturing young people in the world (a new friend of mine, who won an award as a freshman, told me that he was thinking about his global responsibilities and personal values，And when I was her age, I was thinking, how do I work for a living，The realm is really different)，It also diversifies the student body，It ensures that everyone can go to school with dignity and equality to exercise themselves (eg.Non-german majors who choose German courses can be sent to Germany at public expense, and those who choose poverty and development courses can go to Africa), avoiding the introduction of utilitariousness and competition in the curriculum, and focusing on learning new knowledge, exercising thinking and cooperation, as well as the ability beyond the curriculum。
My understanding is that the school trusts the students it recruits to develop themselves well in such an environment (if they are not trained well, the school will admit its fault), and it is completely unnecessary to set up advanced models through various scholarships as domestic universities do。However, only a few private universities in the United States can implement a similar scholarship system, implementing the most advanced personalized education concept。
If there is anything that deserves to be shared at this moment in particular, it is the awakening of the world consciousness (both personal and natural)。Education from childhood, including the training goals of various universities, emphasizes the cultivation of talents who are useful to the country and society。Now come to the school although located in a small town，The school's motto is a broad "cry out for truth on a wide earth" (Harvard's is even simpler with two words: "Truth").，Domestic universities generally give priority to "patriotic")，But it aims to develop responsible lifelong learners and future world leaders (not limited to the United States).，This consciousness permeates the curriculum design and research topics，Let the students not only think，And doing。Even if we can't all become the highest level of world elite leaders in the end, it is also very good to be "responsible for their own lifelong learners". I think this kind of training goals are more operational and more respectful of personality。
Forget about nationality, origin and origin，You don't have to think about practical things like what kind of employment income (in fact, the school does not pay much attention to employment，The government is not qualified to measure employment rates，But it's all going well)，unencumbered，Improve yourself in this diverse, equal and dynamic environment，To realize the possibility of the dream (which may have been dreamed of since childhood)。
In fact, the problem of domestic higher education is not only a problem of model and university enrollment expansion, but also a gap in ideas (parents, educators, teaching assistants, officials), and it will not be as easy as economic development to catch up with developed countries。Although many reform attempts are loud and small, exploration is better than a pool of stagnant water and blind self。
My school, on the other hand, was very different，For hundreds of years, the elite undergraduate education has been placed in the most important position，And limit the number of graduate students to fewer than undergraduates，In fact, with its deep pockets，Plus so many great Faculty，Following the popular practice of recruiting more graduate students and writing more papers can quickly push a school up the rankings，But she doesn't do that，Such is his respected independence。
The reward is that undergraduate education has been ranked first in the United States for many years, and the proportion of more than half of graduates who work to donate to their Alma mater (China's is not sure if there is 1%)？), is the other Ivy League schools and MIT, Stanford 1.5倍。This is to achieve a truly satisfying education for students。
All of the above is said so well, is there not a little bad phenomenon？Turns out there was。For example, a total of two or three people will use mobile phones to reply to some messages (although the teacher said at the beginning of the class that mobile phones should not be used, more than 90% of people have done it), take a computer to class, when the class content is not very attractive, a small number of people will occasionally browse the web and check emails。But these two phenomena will not last long, after replying to the message, the mobile phone is put away, the Internet is just two or three minutes to finish, and then continue to take notes and answer questions。It can be seen that their self-discipline is still very strong, and it is said that this is a habit that has been cultivated in the classroom since childhood。However, it is certain that sleeping on the table in class or chatting between the same table has never been seen。
There is still cheating，The number of cases has increased from 40 to 60 in the last two years，However, it is different from the domestic students who blatantly cheat in the presence of the invigilator，Even outrageous gestures that justify cheating，The cheating here didn't happen in the exam room，The consequences of doing so can be as severe as dropping out of school for several semesters。Their cheating occurred in some take-home exams, where classmates discussed with each other and gave the same or similar answers (take-home exams are required to be completed independently).。
It is interesting that，Why is there still a take-home test，Maybe it's the school's best intentions，I want to further cultivate students' self-control ability，When someone fails to do it，Learn from the punishment，That gives you a temptation，Allow you to make mistakes，Whether you or your classmates have passed the test or not，Can develop the ability to resist temptation;Another reason is that the closing form of some courses is best to consult multiple sources，Cannot be completed in class。
Take, for example, one of Harvard's biggest cheating cases: exam protocols for a course in 2012，"The exam is wide open，Reference books, notes, Internet and so on，However, closed book examination regulations must be observed，Above all，Candidates are not allowed to discuss with other students, including tutors, teaching assistants, writing centers, etc."，But as a result, more than half of the students did not complete independently or even cheated。Later, Harvard University announced that it had suspended 60 students for cheating on the exam, leaving 65 students suspected of cheating half in detention and the other half pardoned。
Michael Smith, dean of the Harvard College of Arts and Sciences, said students who are suspended will take some time away from the school and engage in at least six months of full-time, paid, nonacademic work for reflection, with the stipulation that the job cannot be provided by a parent or any relative。After working for 2 to 4 semesters, students can apply to the Administrative Board for resumption of study, and can return to school only after the unanimous vote of the board。
From this we can see that the way of cheating is also very different, the domestic habit of making a list of announcements to warn, here can not disclose the names of students, but ask them to suspend school to do the work of serving the society to reflect。
