Planned Environments for Learning in the Social Sciences: Two Innovative Courses at Harvard

A description of 2 courses in soc sci at Harvard U. One is an undergraduate course in the Dept of SR & the other an MBA course in the Graduate Sch of Business Admin. Both courses represent radical departures from traditional teaching methods. Both strongly emphasize experiential learning from case materials & from ongoing soc interaction. Readings are used only to provide concepts to comprehend & clarify firsthand experience. The roles of instructor & student are modified. The instructor does not transmit information but acts as a catalyst, questioning assumptions & interpreting ongoing interpersonal processes. The student assumes greater responsibility for guiding his own learning, making his own observations, formulating conclusions, & evaluating them against those formed by others. The courses also differ in important ways which are related to their goals. The SR undergraduate course is concerned primarily with personal, interpersonal & small group behavior. It is more psychoanalytic in orientation & more introspective analysis is required from students. The Business course is concerned primarily with interpersonal, work group, & org'al behavior & is thus more soc-psychol'al & sociol'al in orientation. It is concluded that these courses are difficult to staff but provide more effective educ'al environments for the teaching of soc sci than do traditional lecture courses. AA.