Spring 2020 Cluster Experiences

Plymouth State University will continue to offer students the opportunity to participate in cluster experiences in the Spring 2020 semester. Recall that cluster learning is what happens when faculty members use cluster pedagogy in their classes. In particular, the experiences that we offer in the Spring 2020 semester will help students make connections between the work they are doing in their classes and the world outside those classes. The list of what we’re offering in the Spring 2020 semester can be found here. There are lots of interesting things going on in our classes.

Beyond the new offerings for the INCAP, Tackling a Wicked Problem, and Cluster Composition, I’m excited about the thematic mini-pathway that Elisabeth Johnston and I will be offering. I am teaching Creating Games, a Creative Thought Directions class, and Elisabeth is teaching Play and Learning in Early Childhood, a Wellness Connections class. Both classes focus on the theme of “play,” mine in the form of rule-based games and hers in the form of play in young children. Our classes meet at the same time (in different rooms) which means no student can take both of our classes at the same time. Because our classes meet at the same time, we can easily bring our students together whenever we feel it is appropriate. Our plan is to bring our students together several times through the semester to share what they are learning with each. For example, as my students are developing board games in the second half of the semester, Elisabeth’s students will make a good set of play testers. But one of the main reasons we will bring our students together is to plan a play event during the Showcase of Student Engagement at the end of the semester. The play event will include the opportunity for members of our community to play the board games that my students create as well as the opportunity for young children from the broader Plymouth community to engage in play activities designed by Elisabeth’s students. Luckily, the Showcase will be during New Hampshire’s Spring vacation so young children will not be in school at that time. This thematic pathway allows our students to talk about what they’re learning with people outside of their class as well as to engage people from outside of their class in activities that are informed by what they are learning.

As I said, we’re offering quite a few cluster experiences for students in the Spring 2020 semester, all of which can be found here. These experiences are challenging to find and so I’ll keep updating the web site as I hear about them.

Image Credit: Hands, United, Together, by truthseeker08, CC0