Partners in a Human Enterprise: Harkness Teaching in the History Classroom

Abstract

IMAGINE a particular U.S. History class, occurring in October a few years ago. Morgan, an 1 1th grader, enters a few minutes early to find the teacher and one other student already at the oval table. They exchange greetings and then Morgan says, So Madison is a little crazy here, huh? He really doesn't trust the people. Morgan is referring to Federalist #10, the assigned homework for the day's class. The other student immediately suggests various reasons that Madison was rightly worried about factions. Their classmates fill in around the table and a couple ask, What are you guys talking about? Morgan fills them in and some new voices enter the discussion. It wasn't a matter of trust or distrust, someone counters, it's simply a matter of self-interest and we all have it. The class, becoming quite engaged by this, quickly opens to the document, and discussion ensues. Somewhere within this exchange, the class learning began, yet the teacher had said nothing. Visitors to Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA) invariably stop outside classrooms and watch such classes in session while touring the campus. They see lively discussions taking place around large oval tables and, at first glance, it might well be difficult to tell which of the participants are the teachers because nobody stands out as directing or taking part more than anyone else. Teachers might be looking through the text and apparently not paying attention to the conversation, or they might be sitting quietly