Student presentations will be on display in Hackney Library on the Barton campus beginning Wednesday, Dec. 4. Students will be present at their displays on Tuesday, Dec. 10, from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m.
WILSON, N.C. – Part of the Barton Experience is the Capstone Course, and, in fulfillment of requirements for one of the General Education Capstone courses offered this semester, Barton students will showcase their results after spending this semester researching the portrayal of “gun violence in the media.” Presentations are currently on display in Hackney Library on the Barton campus. On Tuesday, Dec. 10, from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m., students will be available to discuss their projects and findings and answer questions. The event is to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.
General Education Capstone (GEN301), a decisive course that completes the General College Core program at Barton., is a problem-based seminar that encourages the use of all skills developed through general education coursework. GEN301 is required of all students during their junior or senior year.
Each year, faculty members discuss relevant areas of interest, and once themes are chosen for the capstone course, students select specific topics within that theme to focus on for their capstone projects. This is the first time gun violence has been chosen as a capstone subject.
Gerard Lange, an associate professor of art at Barton, had led this particular capstone course. “Students come up with their own readings for the project,” Lange explains. “They are the ones who lead the course. The faculty member supervising the class helps to organize and guide the students in their research.”
Prior to providing display space for the finished projects, the Hackney Library staff created a specialized library guide for the capstone classes, based on students’ topics. In addition, Library Director George Loveland encouraged Lange to have the class meet each period in the library for much of the semester, and he and other librarians assisted students with their research during class time. Students reviewed case studies, performed external research and interviews, read supplementary documents and discussed their findings in class throughout the semester.
Lange describes the course as a vital aspect of students’ preparation for life after college. “This is the capstone experience of the college core,” he adds. “This is the students’ opportunity to demonstrate their development of critical thinking skills. They learn how to dissect the information, develop and support arguments, and disseminate their findings in an intellectual format.”
For additional information, please contact Gérard Lange, associate professor of art at (252) 399-6475 or glange@barton.edu.
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