NBU-COGS: Summer: 1999: Information

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Learning Methods

Each course includes 10 academic hours classwork (5 sessions at 90 min each), plus 5 academic hours tutoring in small groups, and 15 hours home assignements and project work for the students.

Each course is based on reading assignments that the participants will have to read in advance and the classes will be discussions of the material rather than lecturing.

All courses will require papers to be written by the participants which will be used for assessment.

Participants will be involved in various activities: ethnographic interviewing (Culture and Cognition), controled experiments (Understanding Human Thinking, Perception, Brain and Language), critical analysis of theories and models (Child Language Development, Categorization and Inductive Reasoning, Understanding Social Dependence and Cooperation, Perception-Based Spatial Reasoning), practical exercises (Applying Cognitive Science to Instruction).

The small group tutorials will be used for discussing participants work and for further discussion of the issues raised in class. The lecturers will thus have better possibilities to work individually with the participants and evaluate them.

In addition participants will be involved in individual and group work organized as working groups, seminars, symposia, project work described below.

Back to Summer School Outline Curriculum Development Working Groups

Each participant will develop the syllabus of a new course (or update the syllabus of an existing course). He or she will use NBU's library, NBU's Cognitive Science Program documentation and the reading materials for the Summer School as a basis for the course syllabus development and will have consultations with the resourse persons (lecturers).

Small working groups (up to 5 participants) will be formed for mutual review and discussion of the courses developed. Each group will select a course syllabus for presentation to other groups. A market stall will be arranged between groups.

Back to Summer School Outline Learning Methods Seminar

Small working groups (no more than 5 participants) will be formed and each group will prepare either a class or a home assignment for a cognitive science course.

During the seminar each group will present their class or assignment and others will act as students.

A follow-up discussion will analyse the learning forms presented and compare their merits. A special emphasis will be put on active learning methods, such as group and individual assignments, case studies, role playing, games, project work, etc.

Back to Summer School Outline Project Work

Each participant will work individually or in a team on a cognitive science research project. The project will involve planning and carrying out a piece of research. It could be planning and carrying our an experimental study, or team work on solving a real-life problem from education, business, management, information technologies, medicine, law, etc. Representatives of real companies, schools, hospitals, etc. will be invited to present their cases and the participants will work on them.

Back to Summer School Outline Research Symposia

Participants will be invited to submit papers reporting completed research which will be presented (20 min) at the participant symposia. Papers will be reviewed by the resource persons and the participants will receive feedback in both written and oral form. Selected papers will be published in the School's Proceedings.

Back to Summer School Outline Discussion: Cognitive Science in CEE and fSU

A discussion on Cognitive Science research and education in CEE and fSU and in the West will be organised. Each participant will be invited to review the cognitive science activities in their own country. As a follow-up of the discussion a general review for the region will be written by a working group.

Back to Summer School Outline Laboratory: Internet Resources in Cognitive Science

Participants will get experience in working with Internet and will become familiar with the specific sites for Cognitive Science on the Internet as well as with various mailing lists and discussion groups.

Back to Summer School Outline Informal Activities

Participants will have the possibility to interact informally with the resourse people and with each other during numerous social gatherings, as well as during the office hours of the resource persons.

Back to Summer School Outline Participation

Participants will be selected by a Selection Committee on the bases of their submitted documents:

application form,

CV,

statement of purpose,

copy of diploma; if student - academic transcript

letter of recommendation,

list of publications (if any) and short summary of up to three of them.

For participants from Central and Eastern Europe as well as from the former Soviet Union there are scholarships available (provided by Soros' Open Society Institute). They cover tuition, travel, and living expenses.

Deadline for application: May 3rd
Notification of acceptance: May 15th.

Apply as soon as possible since the number of participants is restricted.

Back to Summer School Outline


New Bulgarian University	Center for Cognitive Science