Dr. Dereck Daschke
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Religion
Dr. Dereck Daschke
Dr. Daschke was born in 1968 and lived much of his life in the Chicago area. He received his BA as a double major in psychology and religious studies from UNC - Chapel Hill in 1990, and attended graduate school at the University of Chicago receiving his Ph.D.(Divinity) in 2000.
Dr. Daschke describes his SoTL Fellowship project...
Dr. Daschke describes his SoTL Fellowship project...
My project follows up on ideas raised at the Center for Undergraduate Research Conference on mentoring research for students in the humanities and social sciences. My team and I came away from the conference committed to trying to find ways to incorporate research in small ways into all levels of the curriculum. This is done in a conscious way in the sciences, but not in the humanities and social sciences, which have a very different understanding of data and how one investigates it. Part of this is due to the "solitary scholar" model of humanities research, which makes the kind of mentorship and collaboration built into science education much more difficult.
We found that as well as Truman does research at the upper levels, many students are unprepared in some of the most basic skills even as they are expected to put together major research projects for their majors. Hence we would like to take these research skills and "bake them into the bread," as it were:
*Proposed Undergraduate Research Outcomes by Year
1st:
Identify a research question
Identify and read current scholarship
The ability to write a thesis statement
2nd:
Put together a relevant bibliography
Introduction to various research methodologies
(university wide, should mean exposure to research methods/products in different divisions)
Learning how to work with criticism in the revision process
3rd:
Put together a cohesive narrative that substantiates a thesis
Understanding of interdisciplinarity and disciplinary boundaries/expectations
Start to understand the foundational ideas, figures, and works upon which current research is based
4th:
Strive toward professionalism, including presentation of research
Understand research as being done in conversation with a community (vs. in isolation)
My project toward this consists of two parts:
Part 1 is a pilot project in my PHRE 185 classes involving my Religion in the News paper. I’ve divided it into three research days. First is on the conflict over Israel; second is on religion and politics; third is on Islam after 9/11. In the first, students find an article on the topic, summarize it, and find two academic sources that help explain that article, which they will annotate for a bibliography. In the second, students also propose a research question which is answered by a 3-page essay. In the third, students discuss in class which themes are most prominent on Islam in the news, and pick one of those themes to investigate. Ideally, those working on the same theme create a small research community; on the day of the final period, each group presents their research in a panel format. All three RINs are assessed for students’ experience and learning outcomes.
Part 2 involves a survey to faculty in Lang. and Lit., Social Science, and Fine Arts to determine what is already being done to introduce these research outcomes into classes, especially lower-level ones. I will be distributing this survey over the next month; the first 80 respondents will receive a $5 gift card from Washington St. Java Co.
We found that as well as Truman does research at the upper levels, many students are unprepared in some of the most basic skills even as they are expected to put together major research projects for their majors. Hence we would like to take these research skills and "bake them into the bread," as it were:
*Proposed Undergraduate Research Outcomes by Year
1st:
Identify a research question
Identify and read current scholarship
The ability to write a thesis statement
2nd:
Put together a relevant bibliography
Introduction to various research methodologies
(university wide, should mean exposure to research methods/products in different divisions)
Learning how to work with criticism in the revision process
3rd:
Put together a cohesive narrative that substantiates a thesis
Understanding of interdisciplinarity and disciplinary boundaries/expectations
Start to understand the foundational ideas, figures, and works upon which current research is based
4th:
Strive toward professionalism, including presentation of research
Understand research as being done in conversation with a community (vs. in isolation)
My project toward this consists of two parts:
Part 1 is a pilot project in my PHRE 185 classes involving my Religion in the News paper. I’ve divided it into three research days. First is on the conflict over Israel; second is on religion and politics; third is on Islam after 9/11. In the first, students find an article on the topic, summarize it, and find two academic sources that help explain that article, which they will annotate for a bibliography. In the second, students also propose a research question which is answered by a 3-page essay. In the third, students discuss in class which themes are most prominent on Islam in the news, and pick one of those themes to investigate. Ideally, those working on the same theme create a small research community; on the day of the final period, each group presents their research in a panel format. All three RINs are assessed for students’ experience and learning outcomes.
Part 2 involves a survey to faculty in Lang. and Lit., Social Science, and Fine Arts to determine what is already being done to introduce these research outcomes into classes, especially lower-level ones. I will be distributing this survey over the next month; the first 80 respondents will receive a $5 gift card from Washington St. Java Co.