Applying Alternative Teaching Methods to Impart a Rounded, Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Education: Students’ Reflections on the Role of Magazines as Instructional Tools

Abstract

In a constantly and rapidly changing social world, students from all disciplines ought to attain a rounded education within the tradition of a “Liberal Arts and Sciences” (LAS) context. Students outside of the natural sciences must be encouraged to appreciate the place of those sciences in their lives. Conversely, students in the natural sciences must be encouraged to envision the role of other subjects in their lives. In order to accomplish this, however, we need to go beyond basic instructional approaches by applying alternatives such as using magazines and newspapers. This paper reports students’ reflections on the use of newspapers as supplementary instructional materials to enhance learning. Data were collected from an introductory liberal arts physics course using a survey instrument. The survey had five descriptive measures: student perceptions; creativity based on activities learned; ability to link concepts learned in class to articles in the news journal; ability to impart knowledge acquired; and identifying lessons based on a case study of a selected news article from the newspaper. Student reflections indicate that magazines can effect a positive learning experience and stimulate curiosity to read. It is concluded that this approach can be used to enhance student motivation and persistence in introductory classes, particularly in schools where resources are limited. Keywords: improvisation, Liberal Arts and Science education, magazines, student reflections