Classroom Interaction Description

On Wednesday November 11, 2015 I attended Dr. Feducia’s 10:15 organic chemistry class in order to observe and record my findings regarding biomedical engineering. While observing the class, I made several conclusions. First, the class was rather large. After calculating the number of rows and the number of seats per row, the room could potentially hold 216 people. However, the classroom contained somewhere between 50-70 students with the instructor in the front. The students sat in a “U” formation, with a high density of students within the first three rows. As you moved further back, students favored the edge of the class. Very few students sat in the center of the class, and even fewer sat near the back. The instructor utilized both modern technology and older methods of communicating. There were two projectors running, projecting a PowerPoint upon two screens. Dr. Feducia also utilized the chalkboard in order to write out practice problems and explain concepts. The students within the classroom didn’t seem to share any common attributes besides the fact that they were all in the same class. Most all dressed casually, however some were wearing dress shirts or dresses. Dr. Feducia, likewise, was in casual attire and did not differentiate himself from the students in the seats. Out of the 60-70 students, approximately 10 of them had water bottles at their desk, and Dr. Feducia had a coffee with him.

 

The class was rather quiet for most of the period, save Dr. Feducia’s voice. He used very specific language in regards to the topic of study. The jargon appeared to be understood by all within the classroom and accurately described what was occurring in the PowerPoint and on the board. When a problem was put upon the chalkboard the sound of chalk on board was suddenly deafened by the scribbling of pen on paper, for the entire class was busy copying down the example. In addition to these sounds, there were also several questions asked during the period, all of which were quickly responded to by Dr. Feducia. There was also a fair amount of casual banter. Dr. Feducia made several jokes throughout the period and would personally talk to students while waiting for the rest of the class to finish the problems put upon the board. In regards to Dr. Feducia’s teaching, he was very animated and constantly encouraged classroom participation. He was very knowledgeable in the subject and taught the class well. The students seemed to enjoy themselves and were constantly paying attention to the task at hand and the work that needed to be done. They were all attentive, and respected the instructor the entire time. At the end of the lecture Dr. Feducia handed back quizzes from a previous date individually to each student. The class ran over time and several people rushed out of the class, however others took several minutes to get up and leave.