-L. Jackson, NSU News
Northwestern State University is implementing an Honors Program this semester to give outstanding students the opportunity to enrich their academic experience, study topics in greater depth and improve their leadership skills. Students enrolled in the Honors courses will participate in research and projects in addition to regular coursework, which administrators hope will engage them in their disciplines and get them excited about research.
Dr. Susan Thorson-Barnett and her colleagues in the Department of Psychology worked for over a year to coordinate the Honors components she plans to imple-ment in her Psychology 1010 class this semester that will be tied to a service-learning project.
“The Honors students will follow the same grading scale and take the same tests as the rest of the students, but their coursework will have a research component,” Thorson-Barnett said. “We will meet every two weeks. First, the students will learn about the project, then we will meet at the library to learn to find resources in scholarly journals. Over the course of the semester, the students will write a group research paper and will work in groups of two to create informational posters they will present to the class before Thanksgiving.”
Thorson-Barnett’s project will expose the freshmen Honors students to concepts normally presented to upperclassmen.
“We want them to be able to present the research during next spring’s Research Day and we hope we can continue the project and tie it in with service learning and present at the spring Serving Learning conference,” she said.
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