Class Reflection

Hi All,

Wow, what a semester! Three and a half months ago, I didn't quite know what to think when walking to the young center for the first time! We had our first talk on race and IQ which was interesting, but I still didn't know what to make of the course. After a few classes or so I really began to enjoy the in class discussion component. I really appreciated that Dr. Pretz didn't lecture the entire time and she allowed for more of a dialog about the material to unfold. I thought this was vastly more helpful than a traditional lecture as it  helped me manipulate the material while I was learning it. Also hearing other individuals and their impressions on the material was helpful and it began to challenge my initial impressions on whichever study topic. The debates were interesting, but at times I wished they were more dynamic. It would have been cool to integrate some additional neuroscience into the course. What brain regions are associated with creativity etc. However, the papers we read this semester were interesting in their own right.

I felt the PDQ's to be immensely helpful in staying up with course content and thinking deeper about the concepts. The text books for the course were short and easy to navigate as well. My favorite highlight of the course was the paper and doing my own debate. I must admit that the debate was my first since freshmen year! I feel this experience is invaluable to have. Also, since my paper topic was near and dear to my heart (biology-inspired) I felt obliged to make it the best I could! I feel the current edition of it is almost perfect, and will be ready for submission before Thursday.

This has been a absolute fantastic experience--especially for a second semester senior! Thanks again for reading my blog posts.I really enjoyed reading my classmates--some of them had really interesting takes on course content! Although my blogging may cease for this topic, does not mean I have finished philosophizing about intelligence and creativity!

Thanks again,

Ryan