During the final week of the fall semester, two first-year seminar classes at Bates College joined together for a collaborative session in Dana Hall. The event brought together 30 students, two instructors, and a foster rabbit named Patience for an interdisciplinary learning experience.
The courses involved were “Beyond the Rainbow: Exploring the Language (and the Science, Art, and Culture) of Color,” taught by Wells Castonguay, assistant director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning, and “Sex in the Brain: The Neuroscience of Sex, Gender, and Hormones,” led by Lindsey Hamilton ’05, director of the same center. Both seminars are part of Bates’ curriculum designed to introduce first-year students to college-level writing and critical thinking through small class sizes capped at 16 students.
Throughout the semester, students from both classes expressed curiosity about each other’s coursework. This led Castonguay and Hamilton to organize a joint session aimed at fostering connections between disciplines as well as among students. Ina Dobreva ’29 from Sofia, Bulgaria (a student in “Sex in the Brain”), noted similarities with her friend Celina Carman ’29 from Buenos Aires, Argentina (enrolled in “Beyond the Rainbow”). Dobreva said, “We were saying every time, ‘We have the same course, just in a different font.’”
The joint class included presentations where students shared what they had learned over the semester. Students from “Sex in the Brain” discussed behavioral differences between sexes by combining knowledge about hormones with societal gender expectations. An interactive activity illustrated these differences using behavioral traits.
Regan Clute ’29 of Tahoe City commented on one such exercise: “It was really interesting to see — even with something that seems almost ridiculous, but it is topical — there really is a difference.”
Students from “Beyond the Rainbow” explained concepts ranging from how eyes perceive color to how language shapes color perception. They engaged their peers by having them redraw color boundaries outside traditional spectrums and rename them creatively.
Ruby Wiley ’29 wore a baby blue hat labeled with “neela,” which is Punjabi for blue—a result of an assignment involving interviews about color categorization across languages. Wiley described another project: “A narrative essay about our favorite color sounds simple, but it wasn’t just, ‘Oh my favorite color is baby blue.’ It was ‘Why is it baby blue… What makes it your favorite color?’ It’s a writing class. We were focusing on our creative writing skills there.”
Wells Castonguay highlighted how preparing presentations helped students realize how much ground they had covered: “It was fun when they were preparing for this class hearing them say, ‘Wait I have to teach that. They’re not going to know that.’”
Afterward, Castonguay recounted overhearing one student express surprise at all that had been learned: “‘You really learned all of that? You learned physics and neurobiology?’ Yes,” replied Castonguay’s student.
Hamilton emphasized that taking an FYS unrelated to intended majors can be beneficial: “It really doesn’t matter which topic you get… You learn so much in critical thinking.” Reflecting on her own experience as both instructor and alumna she added: “As I took other courses I started to get really excited… My own FYS here at Bates was awesome.”
First-year seminars also serve as important social spaces for new students adjusting to college life. Wynn Harward ’29 remarked on this aspect: “We all became friends over the course of the semester… I look forward to class every day.”
The interdisciplinary approach taken during this joint seminar session reflects Bates College’s commitment to broad-based education through collaboration across fields.
