Fall/Winter 2010 - Pingry School

[ SCHOOL NEWS ]
Original Sources Figure in Faculty
Members’ Summer Fellowships
“Refreshing,” “invigorating,”
“inspiring,” and “enriching” are
among the words that faculty
members use to describe their summer
fellowships. Pingry has been
awarding fellowships of $5,000
each since the summer of 1989,
based on applications that are
judged by a committee including
the Headmaster and Chair of the
Board of Trustees. The proposal
does not have to directly relate to
a teacher’s discipline, but it should
contribute to making the faculty
member a better teacher. Each
applicant must have taught at
Pingry for at least five years prior to
the year of the award’s announcement.
These are the fellowships
from the summer of 2010.
There have been so many technological
developments in schools, especially
during the past decade, that
science department chair Chuck Coe
P ’88 has been wondering if all of the
technology is making a difference in
students’ education. Even 20 years
ago, Mr. Coe was trying to determine
how much work a student should
complete by hand, rather than using
technology—in other words, at what
point does technology become an
aid For his fellowship, he sought
data that evaluates the effectiveness
of these investments.
or testimony is the best information
available. With respect to technology,
there is agreement among expert
opinion, anecdotal evidence, and
educational philosophy—the most
effective uses of technology nearly
always occur when a curricular perspective
enables the identification of
good instructional practices, and the
technological tools are then used to
facilitate those practices. Technology
is often the missing piece that allows
faculty to successfully manage cooperative
and collaborative learning.
Mr. Coe is still in the process of
assembling his final conclusions.
Knowing that technology and other
resources are vital for Pingry’s library,
C. B. Newton Library Director
Eileen Hymas participated in
“Library and the Academy,” part of
the Oxbridge summer program for
faculty (“Oxbridge” is a collective reference
to the University of Oxford
and University of Cambridge). She
stayed at Mansfield College, which is
part of Oxford University, and visited
a number of university libraries that
are renowned for their vast collections
and resources.
St. John’s College at the University
of Cambridge was the highlight of
her trip. She enjoyed what she
describes as “the extraordinary privilege”
of handling manuscripts from
the Middle Ages, including an early
edition of The Canterbury Tales—she
was delighted to see the calligraphy
and hand-colored graphic art in person,
instead of looking at electronic
versions. “Rare materials are highly
restricted to users, usually respected
scholars doing research. My own personal
interest in art history and in
medievalism made this a very special
experience,” Ms. Hymas says.
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the pingry review
“The most fascinating part of this
fellowship was looking at the general
way in which schools make decisions.
As a science person, I am surprised by
the extent to which educational decisions
are made on the basis of anecdotal
or testimonial evidence, or philosophical
justifications,” Mr. Coe says.
Due to the fact that almost no data
collected for sufficient sample sizes
and under controlled conditions
exists, he has concluded that, in a
complicated educational environment,
sometimes an expert’s opinion
Eileen Hymas at the site of the Battle of Hastings, where she saw ruins of the Battle Abbey.