Learning Together Around the Table

The humpback whale-whose 28-foot skeleton hangs in the rear atrium like a Calder sculpture-has been an invaluable teaching tool ever since its carcass first washed up on a Cape Cod beach in the spring of 2000. PEA instructors and students helped extract the skeleton on site and prepare the bones for articulation.

Students and teachers alike agree that the inclusion of the Harkness table in the classroom-labs is perhaps the single greatest change made possible by the new facility. Although the science department has always been committed to a Harkness approach to teaching science, teachers are quick to admit that realizing this goal was a challenge in Thompson, where space was at a premium. Richard Aaronian spent 30 years teaching in the Thompson Science Building and says he saw the impact of the Harkness table from the first day in Phelps. "Thompson served us well for many years, but we're so fortunate to have a new facility like this," he reflects. "The main difference is having a Harkness table in every room. I've always felt that when students come into a classroom and sit around a table, they're different people. We tried putting the desks in a circle in Thompson, but it wasn't the same."

Chemistry teacher Melissa Mischke has observed a similar phenomenon in her classes. "Finally having the Harkness table creates a connectedness that was missing with individual chairs. The students saw themselves as individuals sitting in chairs. When 14 students sit together around the table, they see themselves as a class. There's no teacher's position at the Harkness table. I'm sitting with the students as a history or English teacher does. We've become equals in the learning process."

Madison Condon '04, a day student from Salisbury, MA, is taking physics this term. She appreciates the ease of communication the spacious classrooms and the Harkness table allow. "In Thompson, you couldn't see everyone in the class. Seeing people's faces and being able to hear them makes such a difference. And we can go up to work on the whiteboard so easily, whenever we need to."

As someone who was both a student and teacher in Thompson, Anne Rankin '82 has a unique perspective. Now in her third year of teaching biology at Exeter, she arrived too late to be involved in the planning process for the science center, but she feels just as much ownership in the new building as her colleagues do. She is struck by the shift that has occurred with the integration of discussion and labwork. "We're all on the same level around the Harkness table. The teaching is slower because I'm more aware of what the students don't understand and they're more apt to ask questions."

Technology: A Great Leap Forward

The cutting-edge technology in the science center is also singled out as a significant learning tool by students and faculty. Each classroom's technology cabinet contains a tower with a CPU and DVD and CD players. Digital camcorders and flex cams enable teachers to project images from a variety of sources, and touch-screen remote controls allow for sound and projector control. Brad Robinson's Physics 201 class is already making the most of the new technology. The lowers and uppers seated around the Harkness table are presenting their solutions to a complex word problem that involves the application of physics and math. In order to see how Mia Fong '03 solved the problem, Robinson places her lab book under the flex cam and projects her page of notes and equations on the overhead screen. The class is able to see how she arrived at her answer and to question her about the process. When a heated debate develops about different approaches to a solution, Robinson projects Mia's work directly onto the whiteboard, so her classmates can write their equations alongside her projected notes.

"The new technology gives us the ability to show diagrams so easily and to animate scientific principles," Robinson says. "It's so easy for students to show their own work as well. It has had a tremendous effect on how we go over homework." The realization that flex cams could be used to project student work sheets and homework on the overhead screen is one of the "serendipitous" discoveries teachers have made about the new technology, one that physics teacher Karen Geary is credited with uncovering. Though it was not an intended use in the original design, once Geary shared this application of the enhanced technology with her colleagues, it quickly became standard practice.

Mia Fong is enthusiastic about what the new technology makes possible. "The overhead projector allows everyone to see the same data and visualize what we're talking about. We can graph our results so easily and see each other's work. This really helps us learn. It's great for physics, which requires lots of graphing."

A Classroom of One's Own

Instructors in all the disciplines-biology, physics, chemistry and computer science-are delighted to have their own classrooms at last, something that was not possible in the old building. Constructed in 1931, the Thompson Science Building originally housed six teachers in three lecture rooms and three lab spaces. When the science department vacated the building at the end of the last academic year, every available inch of space, including offices and closets, had been converted into classrooms. Even so, the department's 20 teachers were required to share classrooms, and lab space was at a premium. Now teachers are able to set up long-term experiments in their classrooms and leave them in place between classes.

Peter Southam sees having individual classrooms as one of the most significant changes. "In Thompson we had to move from room to room. I taught chemistry in the chemistry classroom and biology in the bio classroom. Having teachers move around in science is miserable. I think the biggest improvement is that each teacher has his or her own classroom, plus another room you can use as a lab. It's not even close in comparison to Thompson."

Science department chair Chris Matlack, who has taught biology at Exeter for 13 years and was closely involved in the design process, is excited about every aspect of the science center, but he pays particular tribute to the individual classrooms. "We have had a lot of people touring the building from other schools and colleges. They recognize that this is what you get when teachers design the space. I'm most happy about the fact that teachers were consulted throughout the process. Science teachers understand what it means to have your own classroom that is a dedicated space. We wanted classrooms that were dedicated for use by one teacher, and we got them."

At every step, Matlack adds, the architects asked for input from the science department. "The beauty of it is that when we came up with the design, it was taken on faith by the administration, the builders, the architects and the donors." Of these collaborators who helped make the science center a reality, Matlack points to the donors as deserving special mention for their generosity and vision. Not only has the Phelps Science Center enabled Exeter to offer students a science education second to none, it will help to attract outstanding faculty and students in the future.

Elizabeth Stevens, who is in her second year of teaching biology at Exeter, admits that she accepted a position at the Academy only because she knew that new facilities were on the way. "The traditional science classroom has a demo desk in between the blackboard and the students. I was used to having that fixed table at the front of the classroom, but it separated me from my students," she says. "The change in teaching in the science center is extraordinary. Just having the Harkness table in the classroom says that we're in this together. The technology is great. I can put animations up on the screen for the whole class. It makes a tremendous difference to the students to see the phenomena in motion instead of through still pictures. There's nothing more I could want in the building."

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