Principal Investigator David McGee
Co-investigators Libby Hsu , Joel Grimm
Project Website https://terrascope.mit.edu/
Terrascope is a learning community for first-year students to solve complex, real-world problems starting in their first semester at MIT.
At the core of the Terrascope program is one basic but important idea: MIT students, even as first-year students, are ready to take control of their own education and to tackle big, important problems. With each new class of first-year students, Terrascope explores a different global issue – and it’s the students who take command. Students work in teams to develop solutions, drawing on diverse perspectives, interdisciplinary research, and a supportive Terrascope community.
Terrascope also offers the advantages of a small, vibrant community, plus academic advising, a unique curriculum, and extracurricular activities.
Each academic year, Terrascope hosts three events that are free and open to the public and showcase the final product of our students’ endeavors in the Terrascope classes. Members of the public are encouraged to attend these events and give feedback to our students. Additionally, the 12.000 Final Presentation is broadcast on our Facebook Page and the Radio Broadcast is broadcast on 88.1 WMBR, MIT’s radio station.
Thecurriculum changes each year to reflect each new problem, which typically focuses on issues related to sustainability and Earth systems. All Terrascope classes are fundamentally student-driven: you are in charge of your own educational process, from shaping the problems you want to address, to making your own decisions about procedure and timeline, right up to determining the scope and content of your final presentations. Along the way faculty, staff, alumni mentors, and undergraduate teaching fellows provide support and resources, but all the decision-making is up to you.
Terrascope first-year students enroll in one fall subject (12.000 – Solving Complex Problems), as well as optional design and radio production classes in the spring. Students meet their General Institute Requirements (GIRS) by attending mainstream core subjects with other first-year students.