March 8, 2005

Faculty Member Jim Donovan to speak at Great Books Foundation in Chicago on Science Education and the Great Books

Jim Donovan, Shimer College Faculty Member, will speak at the Great Books Foundation in downtown Chicago on April 1.  His talk, “Great Books Need Great Labs:  How Reading Great Books Affects Laboratory Work”, is part of the Great Books Foundation Friday Forum series being co-sponsored by Shimer College, the Great Books Foundation, and the College of Humanities and Sciences.

According to Donovan, the practice of science requires not only intellectual skills, but also physical skills and a developed intuition.  These latter skills come most effectively not from books, but from manipulation and observation – from hands-on laboratory exercises and experiments with the physical world.  The talk will present ideas on how to do that in a way that actually enhances the critical reasoning skills that a Great Books approach already teaches.

Friday Forum meetings are scheduled for 3 p.m. at the offices of the Great Books Foundation in the Chicago Loop, 35 E.Wacker Drive, between State and Wabash, 23rd floor.  Admission is free. Presentations will precede discussion and socializing over refreshments. For more information, contact Daniel Born at the Great Books Foundation, (312) 332-5870, ext. 282.