On November 1, students and faculty of the Workshop at Andover gathered for the very first time in the Tang Institute. The Workshop, Andover’s school within a school, will not officially launch until the spring term, but this meeting marked the students’ introduction to each other and to the Workshop’s theme: Community, Class, and Carbon. Amy Chew ’20 said she’s excited about getting started and about this particular theme. “Each subtopic encompasses ideas that are important not only on the Andover campus but also in American society,” she said. “It’ll be really interesting to tackle these ideas hands on and see where we run with them.”
Biology instructor Andrea Bailey led the group through a generative session using the Question Formulation Technique, a method introduced to Andover faculty a few weeks ago by the Right Question Institute. For nearly an hour, students and faculty worked side by side to come up with questions that will direct the exploration of the Workshop’s theme. Questions included:
- What does community mean?
- What are some positive uses/applications of carbon?
- How can we achieve class-conscious sustainability?
- How do these three ideas relate to each other?
Nick Zufelt, instructor in math, statistics, and computer science, said that students’ excitement and willingness to dive right in showed in their outputs. “We have a lot of feedback to read as we continue to build out the Workshop,” he said.
Members of the Workshop community also ate lunch and spent time getting to know the people with whom they’ll be charting this new kind of educational experience. Off we go!
