To help first-year students acclimate to Carleton’s fast-paced and intense learning environment, the dean of the college hosts a faculty panel on academic success during New Student Week. An excerpt from chemistry professor Trish Ferrett’s address follows.
Pretend for a moment that college is about learning to ask really good questions. What kinds of questions might you ask, and where will those questions take you? Why are questions so important?
Let’s start with the very practical. You will be learning in classes by reading, watching films, talking to your peers, and doing a multitude of assignments and activities—alone and in teams. During all of this, stay curious! Nurture your sense of wonder. Let those questions naturally bubble up on your brain, and—here is the kicker—write them down!
I always tell my students to keep with them a piece of paper titled “Questions for Trish.” Then, when the list gets to two or more questions, come in and chat. And create study groups where you mull over your questions with peers. Ask, talk, respond, discuss, ask more, repeat.
What kinds of questions will you ask at faculty office hours? They will be all over the map. Some will be simple, informational, and clarifying. Ask those questions, and responses will likely come readily. But go beyond this. As you get deeper into a course and your Carleton education, ask more sophisticated questions, like “What if?” or “What is the relationship between ideas A and B?” or “Why is it that?” Students in my courses ask me questions like this all the time. And what we do next is always interesting and stretches all of us. We learn more, we learn deeper, and we connect up our learning so that it sticks. This kind of learning moves you from being a novice learner toward being an expert learner.
I hope your questions at Carleton pop out fast, hard, and often—and that you take them seriously. Share them, chase them, and talk about them—all the time and with everyone.