Thomas, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology,
sees the popular course as a way to expose students not only to the
many aspects of the discipline but also to the world at large. Cultural
anthropologists explore all aspects of daily life, from identity and
gender to health and family, particularly how they differ in different
parts of the world.
“I see this class as a way to introduce students to the vast
diversity of how people live,” Thomas said. “It’s fun for me to have
this amazing opportunity to open up a new world to students.”
She has a second important goal in teaching the class as well.
Especially because so many of the students are relatively new to the
University, Thomas wants to use the course material and related academic
work to help them improve their study skills in ways they can bring to
all their UD courses.
Many students, she said, did well in high school without necessarily
developing expertise in time management or in learning and remembering
information — the kinds of practices that will be critical for success
in higher education.
“They may not have asked themselves: What are the best practices for
taking notes, for studying for exams, for retaining information?” Thomas
said. “But we know those best practices, based on research, and I’m
excited to share that with them.”
From the beginning of the semester, she assigns students about a
half-dozen brief, low-stakes activities or exercises that target study
skills, supplementing the homework that directly involves the course
content. Exercises include watching a short video discussing
misconceptions about how we learn, writing a paragraph about the
student’s own study methods, practicing active-reading techniques and
creating and sharing a visual study guide.
She also surveys her students and has found that each semester about
half tell her they have made significant changes in the way they study
and have seen marked improvement in their work.
“My goal is that, as they’re learning the course content, they’re also learning how to learn the course content” and can apply those lessons to other classes they will take in the future, she said.