For History 97, the sophomore tutorial, students peer review each other's work. Each student writes a primary source based paper, which is based on a shared source base that all of the students have read. Students have to provide detailed written and oral feedback on each of their peers' papers. To guide their responses, the instructors provide a list of questions or points to consider. Students are to identify the argument and evaluate the extent to which it is supported by evidence, the organization of the paper, and the quality of the prose.
How did race, gender, employment, and other characteristics condition people's responses to revolutionary activities during the American Revolution? In this activity, students take on different personas and consider whether they would support a boycott of British goods.
How do you craft a good thesis statement? In this activity, students work together to refine their ideas and put together possible evidence for different topics. The purpose is to teach students how to connect their thesis statement with the rest of their paper, and to revise the two in tandem (start with a draft thesis, bring some evidence together, revise the thesis to better reflect the evidence, revise the evidence to better fit the thesis, etc.)
Rachel Gillett reports that in the History and Literature Sophomore Tutorials, students are required to do three oral presentations with the help of the instructors in order to hone their public speaking and critical thinking skills.
In his Bible in the Humanities section, David Weimer had students present a modern object that makes an allusion or reference to the Bible. This activity allows students to explore modern-day understandings of the Bible as they relate to the original text.
In SPU 14, Professor Charles Langmuir has a unique office hours policy where he holds office hours for three hours a week and goves students one extra credit point for every time they come and ask a question.