LING 350: Hands On at Science World!
February 25, 2019
Last Year, Dr. Henny Yeung received a $6000 Teaching and Learning Development grant for a project that investigates experiential learning in the undergraduate classroom. As part of the project, LING 350: First Language Acquisition included a unique assignment where students had to head out to science world and apply what they learned in class to a real life situation.
Dr. Henny Yeung has three objectives for this project (source):
- To see how engaging with parents and young children impacts students’ attitudes towards first language acquisition in a qualitative sense. How does speaking to parents and their children about language development shape students’ assumptions and knowledge about first language acquisition?
- To ask whether experiential learning affects students’ grasp of the materials, possibly by increasing their motivation for learning the materials, or by giving them hands-on experiences that reinforce concepts learned in class.
- To assess the feasibility of involving a community partner in undergraduate education, and what pitfalls and highlights exist in establishing such partnerships.
You can see some of our undergraduates enjoying their activities in the pictures below. Students achieved their course objectives by working directly with children at Science World, using the chance to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material and reflect on how it works in practice.
Although LING 350 is not offered this summer, look forward to Fall 2019 and get excited for your very own trip to Science World!
Two other SFU undergradutes (Sabrina Chin and Faith Yuen) working with a boy on a language activity examining how noun compounds are made.
Two SFU undergraduate students (Grace Gan and Yani Shang) working with a boy on an experiential learning activity about word learning.