|
York County Senior
College Playing Mind Games, Making History
Fern & Elmer Brown
 This spring and fall, seven brave souls
took a chance on a class that had never before been offered to seniors
anywhere in the country. The "Mind Games" participants used
Odyssey of the Mind-type problems as vehicles for expanding their creative
horizons, blazing new trails in utilizing a program originally designed
for students in kindergarten through traditional college. In doing so,
they experimented with problems requiring teamwork, divergent thinking and
risk-taking. Throughout the course, students tried their hands at a
variety of problems, including verbal challenges, engineering principles,
communication skills, acting talents, hands-on construction techniques and
skills and brain teasers. During the classes, we discussed how we would
evaluate its success, as we had nothing to which we could compare it. In
the end, we determined that success would be measured in unique thoughts,
interest in attending and, most importantly, laughter. If laughter is the
barometer, our class was a great hit!
We are excited at the prospect that this
class may spawn the first-ever Senior College team to go to Odyssey
of the Mind World Finals, to be held at the University of Colorado in
Boulder in May, 2005
Photo Above: Fern Brown
Photo Below: Participants in the New England Lifelong Learning Conference experience
typical "Mind Games" challenges
|
Wooly
worm vs. weather radar: Who can better predict the weather?
The age- old question of weather prediction was a featured program
this month at Penobscot Valley Senior College. It was a classic
match up: Peter Geiger, the publisher of the Farmers Almanac vs. WLBZ TV2 meteorologist
Steve McCay or the wooly worm vs. weather radar. Geiger was loaded
with slides, video clips and displays designed to explain the purpose and
history of almanacs. Without revealing any secrets, Geiger described
his technique for forecasting and claimed an 80% accuracy in his
predictions.
McCay, too, boasted an 80% or better accuracy, noting that
his forecasts cover a much smaller area than the area covered by almanacs
which offer forecasts for several states. McKay discussed weather
patterns and translated the confusing myriad lines and symbols on the
weather map.
-from the Memo for Members at Penobscot Valley Senior College
University of
Southern Maine’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Named National Center
for Older Learners
The
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), the Senior College at the USM
has been named the national center for the network of 48 such lifelong
learning institutes throughout the nation.
The network of OLLIs is expected to expand to 100.
As
the National Resource Center USM will play a lead role in disseminating
information on educational programming for older learners.
|
Maine 
