First Year Students

First year students face a variety of challenges as they make the transition from high school to college. The resources in this section focus on ways we can make this transition go more smoothly and on how to best teach this diverse group of students.

(NOTE: The below links will open in a new browser window or tab)

• Tools for Faculty—First Year Programs
  This UO site, designed for FIG instructors, provides specific suggestions for community building, discussion activities, writing activities, and presentations.
  
  
• Best Practices for Teaching First-Year Undergraduates ( PDF File)
  This PDF file , by Susan Ambrose and Rea Freeland, Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, Carnegie-Mellon University. outlines reasons why first year students need special consideration and provides numerous specific strategies to use in the classroom.
  
  
• Teaching freshmen to learn mathematics
  This article by Steven Zucker focuses on math and the difficulties inherent in teaching the subject to first year students. It is taken from Krantz, S., How to Teach Mathematics, 2nd ed., Amer. Math. Soc., 1999, pp. 273-284.
  
  
• Who Needs These Headaches? Reflections on Teaching First-Year Engineering Students
  Insights gained by a veteran instructor, by Richard M. Felder, North Carolina State University. from teaching first-year students for the first time in a while.
  
  
• In the Undergraduate Mind: The First-Year Experience from Three Perspectives (Occasional Paper, No. 3)
  This article from the Teaching Resource Center at the University of Virginia describes the first-year experience from the perspectives of student, parent, and instructor.