I teach in all sorts of contexts: freshman-senior, new grad student
to post doc. The one arrangement that allows me, TO SOME EXTENT, to
organize it so that students put aside the local political economy
of "making it" and their deep desire to understand their predicaments
better is called a "Practicum in Child Development." This course is
one of the critical elements in the system of activities we call
"The Fifth Dimension." In this course, undergrads are RESPONSIBLE
for younger people. The professor is responsible for convincing them
of the following outrageous principle: The ideas of thinkers like
Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, ........ can be effective tools to help you
deal with THE REAL WORLD.
On the other hand, sometimes, in a large lecture hall, I find it possible
to arrange matters so that, improbably, students "get the idea" and
they come to thank me at the end of a lecture-- but more often, they
go away some-what intrigued sometimes, and confused most of the time.
The Practicum course idea is practical, doable, replicable, and replicating.
If you or anyone else on Xmca wants to collude in its replication, you
know where to inquire!
mike