Testimonials from Source Project Students, 2018-19
Develop Crucial Academic Skills
“Something that came from the small class size is that we all worked together a lot, we collaborated on learning how to use different databases, sharing sources, comparing projects or ideas. I thought that was a really good way to do research, especially as a freshman.”
“Most teachers... if they don’t agree with what you are saying, they disregard it or don’t try to help you with it, but with mine, she found the whole thing [my project] very interesting and kept pushing me to learn more and more because she didn’t know enough about it, she wanted me to try to teach her and learn from it.”
“It helped that the size was small so we can all know each other and work off each other in certain projects … it was more so in the first semester that in the second semester that people bounced ideas off of each other, and then edit their projects based on that, but that opened the doors for us to show our projects to other people and have insight from them that we can use to change our projects [in the second semester].”
“I didn’t expect it to be so…… in our control, we did what we wanted to do. I feel like I learned through this experience: how to do research, how to collect information and how to present it.”
“It helped that in the first semester we learned to do everything first, then in the second semester you could just do it.
“I really liked the structure of this class [the second semester]. It was a combination of a go at your own pace and you have several set deadlines.”
Gain Impactful Knowledge
“I think there’s a huge emphasis on STEM right now, which is great... but… we don’t necessarily gain all the perspectives that humanities research might offer. The benefit - the really, really awesome thing I got to see in this course was that there’s a great intersection between the humanities and the sciences and if you apply them, I think, in the most fundamental way possible, your research will be excellent.”
“I will say, [the transferable skills from this class are] critical reading but also just critical thinking in general. To think so deeply about topics and just really delve into it, I don’t know, didn’t really happen in high school as much, so it was really cool to think about things really carefully.”
“My professor would always try to push me to do more, in the first semester she got a glimpse of what we can do and that made her in the second semester push us to do more edits, look at this idea, look at that idea, and really make us better writers and better at looking at research overall.”
“In the humanities, if you are looking at an issue that has plagued people for centuries, and you don’t find an answer that is not a bad thing. It’s you offering your perspective, which could shed the issue in a different light.”
"This class feels like an apprenticeship, I’m doing the same kind of work, as [my professor], trying to produce research papers, just worse, and I am trying to get better. It’s real world stuff, not transactional for a grade."
Participate in Active, Experiential Learning
“Having a select group of people very interested in one topic, there is immediately more personal responsibility, more self-effort, and having a professor who is so fluid and adaptive, and willing to work with you, even if you said I don’t have it today, it would be okay.”
“Big lecture hall environments, like 300 kids, with the professor down there lecturing. They always feel clinical and cold to me. Even though I can tell a professor really cares about what they are talking about and is trying to teach. It’s hard to feel connection to what’s going on in a way. I feel like it is the exact opposite in this classroom. You feel like you develop a connection to [your professor]; she really gets to know you as a person, it really helped me academically in this class.”
“[The classroom] is an atmosphere of professionalism. The tables with spinning chairs make it more democratic, like a committee meeting, not hierarchical with chairs facing one way. It makes me want to work.”
“The fact that I got to know [my professor] so well…. that makes the discussion deeper because once you get the way someone thinks, I feel like you can frame it in a way, rather than just professor “here’s information. Here you go” so I feel it took a lot more analysis and that I actually understand and conceptualize things whereas it’s not just as trying to memorize information.”
“Our discussions were so much more rigorous and much more intellectually stimulating which was intimidating at first, it was terrifying to, like, talk in front of people every day like, “oh no, I’m gonna get judged.” But, we really bounced off each other so well, in such an informal setting. And [our professor] was able to, you know, walk and pick and bounce off ideas with us as an equal.”
“It was cool that she was able to work with us all on our individual needs … I think it is important for a teacher to be able to work with students of all different abilities and tendencies.”
Hone Communication Skills and Build Professional Networks
“Even outside of class we still talk about our research projects, what we plan to do, how interesting [the class] got at certain parts of the class work. And then … through talking about it more with people continuously it fosters new ways to understand the work.”
“It’s not just like a class that I am taking for a grade, I am actually going to be published so that’s nerve wrecking but at the same time it is exciting. It’s like … wow, I am actually going to be published!”
“I’m pre-law … I never thought in my first year that I would be exposed to concepts that you probably touch on in law school, so I think it’s really cool to be exposed to something you wouldn’t unless you are at the graduate level.”
“You have to make sure that your appeal is not to just one person… that you write for a whole array of people to understand and appreciate what you write…. it makes your work more fulfilling to know that it’s gonna be seen by a wider audience.”
