Learning Communities
As a freshman, you have the opportunity to participate in one of four learning communities. These unique groups with common interests offer programs that allow you to study and socialize within a smaller community of students, while still taking advantage of the Institute's intellectual and cultural diversity. Some of these communities offer their own versions of the freshman Science Core subjects, but all offer electives and provide opportunities for lasting contact with faculty, staff, and upperclass students.
The four learning communities are:
Concourse
Concourse is a small scholarly or learning community that provides a highly structured learning and teaching experience. Concourse is a tightly knit, supportive community; intense participation of freshmen, faculty, staff, and upperclassmen is expected. The program offers most of the first-year General Institute Requirements (GIRs) and uses the same textbooks, quizzes, and examinations as the mainstream curriculum. This learning community provides a very thorough preparation for upperclass subjects.
Concourse presents the freshman curriculum in a unified manner to enhance your mastery through experience and study. A dedicated, exceptionally talented and experienced faculty and small class size serve to create strong student-faculty and student-student ties. The program is designed for those of you interested in a highly integrated, structured approach to all of the core subjects. A high level of personal contact with and support by the faculty and fellow students is emphasized.
Concourse's lounge is a favorite locale for spontaneous and planned pizza parties, breakfasts and other fun gatherings. Got the urge to cook for your peers? Concourse has a kitchen.
Visit the Concourse website to learn more about the program.
Experimental Study Group (ESG)
The Experimental Study Group (ESG) is a learning community that provides you with small classes, individual instruction, and independent study opportunities. You have the flexibility to move through classes at your own rate and to determine when to meet with instructors. Students who are highly motivated or who have unique academic backgrounds find the self-paced style of learning very challenging and rewarding.
You may take all of your freshman courses within the ESG learning community, such as math, physics, chemistry, and biology, as well as several humanities and social science subjects and undergraduate seminars. Students are also welcome to take one or two subjects in the mainstream offerings. In addition to freshmen, the community includes sophomores, faculty and staff, and both undergraduate and graduate student tutors.
Above and beyond the academic program, ESG sponsors weekly luncheons with guest speakers; trips to museums, plays and movies; hiking and skiing outings; and informal gatherings to study and socialize with others.
The ESG facility is open 24 hours a day, and this community space is a great place for you to study or socialize.
Check out the ESG site for additional information.
Terrascope and Mission 2011
Terrascope is a small learning community in which you explore concepts in science, engineering, and the social sciences through the study of Planet Earth. Mission 2011 (also known as 12.000 Solving Complex Problems) is a class for freshmen only that focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to solving large complex problems through teamwork. You may take Mission 2011 without committing to the year long Terrascope program. As a Terrascope student, you will enroll in Mission 2011 in the Fall Term and 1.016 (Communicating Complex Environmental Issues: Designing and Building Interactive Museum Exhibits) in the Spring. An optional Spring subject that teaches you how to communicate environmental and other issues through radio, meets a HASS
CI-H requirement. You will also attend mainstream Core subjects with other first-year students. As a Spring semester Terrascope student, you may opt to participate in a weeklong field experience to a site related to the year’s topic. Site visits in past years have included the Brazilian Amazon, Alaska, the Galapagos Archipelago, Chile, and New Orleans. This year we will visit Iceland.
The topic for Mission 2011 (12.000, Solving Complex Problems) and the theme of Terrascope change each year. By enrolling in 12.000 you become part of the Terrascope program and community, even if you do not continue in the Spring. The Terrascope affiliation allows you to join students and faculty at weekly luncheons during which guest speakers discuss their current research. You will also have access to the Program’s facilities, including a dedicated classroom/study space, kitchen, and lounge. Terrascope also offers a number of opportunities for undergraduate research (UROP).
In Mission 2011, you will gain firsthand experience working as part of a team researching and developing solutions to large and difficult real problems involving science, engineering, and social sciences. Some past topics have included: sustainable development of the Amazon Rainforest; comparing the environmental costs and resource benefits of drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; guaranteeing the survival of the Galapagos Islands; designing effective emergency tsunami response strategies for the circum-Pacific region; developing a plan to reconstruct New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
This year, 12.000 or Mission 2011 will revolve around the issues associated with the long-term future of our marine ecosystems and fisheries.
Fish provide roughly 40 per cent of the protein consumed by nearly two-thirds of the world's population. Global population growth and improved fishing technology are placing unprecedented pressure on the world’s ocean resources. Global marine fish production increased from 19 million tons in 1950 to about 80 million tons in the mid-1980s where it has remained. Chronic over-fishing, combined with introduced species and massive pollution, have upset ecological balance, destroyed habitat, and created large “dead zones.” When projections of global warming and climate change are considered, it is clear we are in severe crisis. A global plan to save the oceans and the fisheries is long overdue and essential for the planet. Your task is to develop this plan: the future of the planet hangs in the balance.
Terrascope and Mission 2011 are open to all freshmen. All freshmen enrolled in Mission 2011, a 9-unit subject, are allowed to take up to 57 units of credit.
Additional information can be found on the Terrascope website.
For more information on Mission 2011 visit: http://mit.edu/12.000/www/m2011/about.html.
Media Arts & Sciences (MAS)
Media Arts and Sciences (MAS) offers a small group of first-year undergraduates the opportunity to pursue freshman subjects through a learning community. Emphasis is on research, both understanding how it is carried out and connecting current Media Laboratory research to Core freshman subjects.
You will be introduced to the learning-by-apprenticeship that characterizes the MAS education mission. You will attend mainstream lectures in the Core freshman subjects, but will attend recitation sections in chemistry and physics taught by MAS faculty. Again, the connection between subject matter and current Media Laboratory research is emphasized.
Students are encouraged to participate in one of several MAS Freshman Advising Seminars and must take two MAS subjects. The first is design-oriented. The second is an introduction to research protocol, data collection and presentation of results. Spring semester, students are strongly encouraged to participate in a UROP at the Media Laboratory. This program is intended for students who will pursue any undergraduate major at MIT.
For additional information, please explore the MAS website.
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