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The Harkness table refers to a style of teaching wherein students sit at a large, ovular table with their teachers, in use at many American boarding schools and colleges. It encourages classes to be held in a discursive manner. Developed at Phillips Exeter Academy, the method's name comes from the oil magnate and philanthropist Edward Harkness, a graduate of St. Paul's School (Concord, NH) who presented the school with a monetary gift in 1930. He described its use as follows:
- What I have in mind is [a classroom] where [students] could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where [each student] would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods.[1]
Harkness tables are used by Jackson State University's W. E. B. Du Bois Honor's College,Hopkins School, Appleby College, Phillips Exeter Academy,St. Martin's Episcopal School, Phillips Academy, Leysin American School, Shady Side Academy, Loomis Chaffee, Mercersburg Academy, The Lawrenceville School, The Fieldston School, St. Paul's School (Concord, NH), Berkeley Preparatory School, The Moses Brown School, The Pingry School, Memphis Jewish High School , Hathaway Brown School, Horace Mann School, Cushing Academy, Cheshire Academy, Glenelg Country School, The Hotchkiss School, Deerfield Academy, Palmer Trinity School, Asheville School, St. Paul Academy and Summit School, American Hebrew Academy, The Kinkaid School, St. Mark's School of Texas, Middlesex School, St. George's School, The Masters School, Germantown Academy, Kingswood-Oxford School, Milton Academy, Tampa Preparatory School, The American School in London, The John Cooper School, Regents School of Austin, Rocky Hill School of East Greenwich, RI, Annie Wright School, Guilford High School, The Ensworth School, The Hill School, The Taft School, Choate Rosemary Hall, Kent School, The Dublin School, The Harpeth Hall School, Randolph School, Maimonides School, Wellington College, Berkshire, UK, Lower Canada College, Montreal and the Pacific Ridge School, Cape Henry Collegiate School, Havergal College.
Harkness learning can vary — most notably between liberal arts subjects such as English, and scientific subjects, like math. There are general principles and goals, however, that go along with this method. The main goal is to encourage students to come up with ideas of their own and learn good reasoning and discussion skills. Depending on his or her style, the teacher may interact very little, interjecting only to guide the discussion.
References
- ^ Christophe G. Courchesne, "'A Suggestion of a Fundamental Nature': Imagining a Legal Education of Solely Electives Taught as Discussions", Rutgers Law Record 29, no. 21 (2005): 26.
External links
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