INFLUENTIAL EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS FEATURED AT
CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN SOCIETY SEMINAR

(From left) Corey Shdaimah, Blythe Clinchy, Mary Belenky, Cheryl Selah. Photo by Judie McCoyd.

As part of its Explorations of Teaching and Learning series, the Center for Science in Society hosted a seminar featuring influential educational psychologists Mary Belenky and Blythe Clinchy on Friday, April 23. Belenky and Clinchy are two of the authors of Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind, a seminal work that stirred much thought and debate about the different ways that women know and learn, and the way that family life, educational structures and teaching styles help to shape different arenas for knowing and learning.

Explorations of Teaching and Learning is an interdisciplinary, collaborative working group of graduate students and faculty members. "We were particularly honored in hosting Belenky and Clinchy because Women's Ways of Knowing was one of the texts that greatly influenced the formation of the group," said Corey Shdaimah, a Ph.D. student at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and one of the founders of the Explorations series. "It spurred our interest in talking about and sharing our experiences of teaching and learning on a philosophical and practical level and informed our goal of exploring why, what and how we teach and learn and who we are as teachers and learners."

The seminar with Belenky and Clinchy drew students and faculty members from departments and programs across campus, including the Biology and Chemistry departments, the Feminist and Gender Studies Program, and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. Belenky and Clinchy led a lively seminar based on Chapter 10 of Women's Ways of Knowing, "Connected Teaching," and Clinchy's 1996 essay "Connected and Separate Knowing: Toward a Marriage of Two Minds."

"In the seminar we explored ways in which we can make our classrooms and other settings open to different learning and teaching styles. We discussed the 'banking' and 'midwifery' methods of teaching, and we looked at what it means to be 'connected' in ways in which we retain our own sense of self while seeking to understand other perspectives," Shdaimah reports. "We also discussed how our own classroom experiences as teachers and learners, our disciplinary training, and the dynamics of power and oppression influence our classroom, personal and professional interactions." 

Explorations of Teaching and Learning meets monthly for discussions focused on selected readings; its last meeting of the academic year is tentatively scheduled for May 25. The forum is open to graduate students and faculty. Graduate student participants in the forum can also pursue a Dean's Certificate in Pedagogy. For more information please visit http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/scisoc/grad/ideaforum or contact Corey Shdaimah at cshdaima@brynmawr.edu.

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