The PTI Seminars 2005
Group B Seminars
(Open to all teachers)
Hollywood and American History: Reel History VS. Real History
Seminar led by Ronald Lombard
Chatham CollegeThis seminar will explore the impact of Hollywood and motion pictures on perspectives of American history and American culture. Motion pictures will be viewed from the perspective of the time period in which they were produced and the impressions motion pictures have had on manner in which we see ourselves and the world views us. Historians have begun detailed work in reviewing the impact of films on creating the “movies in our mind” that influence our views of American history. We will take a journey back through various periods of American history through the lens of the motion picture camera attempting to determine what impact films have had on our perception of that period. A series of film clips dealing with topics like, America at war, the American family, motion pictures and the American political system, film heroes and the American dream, will be viewed then discussed in class providing an opportunity to assess the power motion pictures have on our perceptions of American history. These clips will be utilized as cultural sign posts to understand why we see ourselves the way we do. Clips will also provide opportunities to review films and plots in relation aspects of American culture as we view icons and beliefs through the shadows of the movies. We will view the films in the context of their times taking into account political implications, censorship, and blacklisting. Film clips from American Film Institute and a documentary dealing with the films of MGM will be used as background to readings related to motion picture cultural impact. We will also attempt to collect a portfolio of films that can utilized in the classroom by teachers to bring alive certain aspects of history and enhance student interest in historical study.
Law and Order
Seminar led by Janet Stocks
Carnegie Mellon University
This seminar will investigate the U.S. legal system from a variety of points of view. Basic mechanics of the system, with its checks and balances, will be reviewed. Specific landmark cases (e.g. Brown vs. Board of Education) will be studied in depth. The rights of specific groups (e.g. juveniles, women, people of color, non-U.S. citizens), as well as the challenges specific groups pose to the existing legal system will be examined.
The seminar will also ponder questions such as “who determines deviance?” and will look at sociological and historical events that illuminate the shifting nature of what we deem acceptable and nonacceptable behavior. Cases from early in our Nation’s history, as well as contemporary cases will be examined. We will also visit the question of evidence, including guest speakers who will review the current state of forensic science.
Teachers in all educational levels and from a wide range of disciplines will benefit from this seminar.
Disease Disasters: Pandemics,
Epidemics,
and How and Why They Happen
Seminar led by Lisa Lambert
Chatham College
Mention AIDS or Ebola and people begin to panic. For years scientists and epidemiologists have been investigating the spread of diseases across the globe. Many different factors affect the spread of disease, and learning how to control epidemics that spread rapidly across communities is important for maintaining public health. Diseases such as the bubonic plaque, yellow fever, typhoid fever, influenza, and AIDS have made their indelible mark in the history books as some of mankind’s worst pandemics. This seminar will examine the factors that make a disease into a pandemic, how different pandemics over time have affected public policy and history, and what trickle down effect they produce for us today. Diseases and the media will also be discussed, including the way books and films such as “Outbreak” influence the way we think about such diseases.
Pittsburgh’s Mass Media
Seminar led by James Davidson
Chatham CollegeIn the Pittsburgh Media seminar we will survey the landscape of print and electronic journalism in Western Pennsylvania, with particular emphasis on exploring the professional standards and skills entailed in choosing, covering, writing and producing stories.
To sharpen our understanding of the differences among the various media, we will read, watch and/or listen to stories from daily and weekly newspapers, television, radio, and magazines of both the past and present. In seminar meetings we will develop a project to monitor local TV coverage, and we will also devote several weeks to a case study comparing the print and electronic coverage of a breaking local news story. In addition to working on the curriculum units, the fellows in the seminar will be expected to keep abreast of local news and to complete short weekly reading assignments.
Play It Again, Sam: Arts and Society
Seminar led by Sandy
Sterner
Chatham College
This seminar will focus on the expressive arts as living media through which society continues to hold up Alice's permeable looking glass, since it is through artistic production we both watch ourselves change and participate in the changing. Genres which have both classical and contemporary expression will be examined, first with a historical view that considers their development and then with a panoramic one which considers some of their popular expression in an increasingly diverse America. In a multi-cultural community, the arts help us to recognize the meanings and images available within the local results of globalization. Part of the way we enjoy enduring classics, Shakespeare or Vivaldi, for instance, is the peek they give us into an era that is never wholly past. Contemporary presentations, either of re-viewed canonical material or forms considered "new," such as installation art, are the footsteps of the era, marking a path and leaving a trace of who we feel we are in this moment. Along with guest lectures from people currently active in the arts in Pittsburgh, there will be field trips (subject to schedules and availability) to theater productions, musical performances, art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings.