Humanities & Society

Nationally there has been considerable recent debate and discussion about how to ascertain the effectiveness of any given school curriculum. Under the auspices of the National Research Council, a committee, chaired by Jere Confrey, Ph.D., professor of education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has written the report “On Evaluating Curriculum Effectiveness.” “This discussion of how to establish curricular effectiveness in mathematics is particularly relevant in light of President Bush’s State of the Union address and budget, which includes significant expenditures on improving mathematics and science education in this country,” Confrey said. “If the funds are to make a difference, thorough, valid and fair evaluations of materials will be critical.”

The St. Louis region aims to become a great biotechnology hub, attracting new businesses and industry from all over the country. If that dream is to become a reality, we need people highly skilled in mathematics and science. A research project by the Center for Inquiry in Science Teaching and Learning (CISTL) at Washington University in St. Louis suggests human resources in science may not be coming from local school districts unless significant investment is forthcoming.

More than 30 Washington University faculty, administrators and staff will participate in science and technology presentations when the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific organization, holds its annual meeting Feb. 16-20 at both the America’s Center and Renaissance Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis.

Jonathan Kozol, the nation’s foremost authority on the state of public education in America, will present a talk on “The Hearts of Children and Obligations of our Nation’s Schools” for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m., Wednesday, February 22. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Graham Chapel.

Courtesy photoMarjorie GarberGleaned from her popular lectures covering three decades, Garber’s 2004 book, Shakespeare After All, offers fresh meditations on the Bard’s plays in an erudite and entertaining fashion. She is a professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Edison Theatre.

Conceptual artist and African-American activist damali ayo will give a presentation for the Washington University Assembly Series at 11 a.m. Wednesday, February 15 in Graham Chapel. The event, co-sponsored by Mortarboard and the Social Justice Center, is a multimedia presentation that interacts directly with the audience to address issues of racial injustice.

Their project investigates the relationship between power and self-presentation by asking women to respond to a seemingly simple question.

Two Girls Working, the collaborative team of artists Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki, will screen a documentary about their ongoing project, “Trappings,” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in Ursa’s Lounge. “Trappings” investigates the relationship between power and self-presentation by asking women to respond to the question “What do you wear that makes you feel powerful?”

No one is born highly creative; creativity takes hard work.Do you desire to be a more creative person but don’t think you have the “creative” gene? You may have some hard work ahead, but it’s possible to become the next Walt Disney or Martha Stewart, says an expert on creativity at Washington University in St. Louis. “No one is born highly creative,” says R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., associate professor of education and of psychology, both in Arts & Sciences. “Psychologists studying creativity have discovered that it is based on cognitive processes we all share. Creativity is not the result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don’t.” Oxford Press has just released Sawyer’s latest book, “Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation,” a seminal overview of the history of creativity and of research into traits that highly creative people all share.

Courtesy photoOliver LakeIn the mid- and late 1960s, the Black Arts Movement emerged as the aesthetic and spiritual corollary to the Black Power philosophy. In St. Louis, Black Artists’ Group (BAG), which flourished between 1968 and 1972, gave rise to a host of nationally recognized figures, including Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett of the World Saxophone Quartet. Today, this influential yet little-known collective is undergoing a resurgence of interest, with the reissue of rare BAG recordings on the Ikef, Quakebasket and Atavistic record labels; a new definitive history published by the Missouri Historical Society Press; and an upcoming sypmosium at Washington University in St. Louis.