Clockwise from top
left: ESG students make liquid nitrogen ice-cream. Dr. Holly Sweet has
lunch with ESG students. Dr. Peter Dourmashkin teaches physics in an
ESG classroom. (Photos courtesy of ESG.)
The Experimental Study Group (ESG) is an academic community that
works to foster educational innovation at MIT.
ESG was established in
1969 to provide a more participatory, student-centered environment.
Today it continues to experiment in new methods of teaching and
learning, offering interactive, experiential classes and
community-based education. ESG allows self-motivated students to take a
more active role in their first year at MIT, with all the freshmen
core subjects offered in much smaller class settings to provide greater
personal control over pacing and format. Over the years, students have
consistently said that ESG's small-group learning, active teaching, and
community atmosphere were some of the most rewarding aspects of their
MIT education.
ESG staff includes faculty and lecturers from a variety of fields,
including biology, chemistry, psychology, mathematics, mechanical
engineering, political philosophy, physics, and the visual arts. In
addition to teaching all the core subjects in the freshman curriculum,
staff are also encouraged to teach supplemental classes and seminars in
areas of their own personal interest, research, and expertise. Fifty
new MIT freshmen are accepted into the ESG community every year. In
their later years at MIT, ESG offers active upperclassmen and graduate
students the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience. Student
instructors work under faculty supervision as tutors, teaching
assistants, and lead instructors for core classes, and under staff
mentorship they can develop and teach their own seminars.
In recent years, ESG has increasingly focused on the development of
its ever-growing ESG Seminar Series, which offers students a wider
variety of educational opportunities outside of MIT's core curriculum.
In keeping with the spirit of educational experimentation, ESG seminars
focus on a potentially unlimited variety of topics, offering
instructors the flexibility to teach from their passion. Seminars are
collegial in format, taught in small, interactive groups with hands-on
activities and plenty of opportunity for student input. The range of
past seminars has included world religions, kitchen chemistry, lego
robotics, self-exploration through art and writing, and special topics
in mathematics.
The ESG Seminar Series is funded primarily by gifts from our alumni
and by annual grants from the Dean of the School of Science. In
addition to participating in OpenCourseWare, ESG staff generate
textbooks from their original classes and seminars in order to broaden
access to this unique course material. The Experimental Study
Group continues to export its successful educational innovations to the
regular curriculum and to educational settings outside of MIT wherever
possible.
Department of Experimental Study Group links
Visit the MIT Department of Experimental Study Group home page at:
http://web.mit.edu/esg/www/
Review the MIT Department of Experimental Study Group curriculum at:
/OcwWeb/web/resources/curriculum/index.htm#ESG