Objects to those who don't do anything
Biology prof fights against tradition
By JULIE THATCHER
Kansan Staff Writer
Consciently objecting to people who sit around and don't do anything, a University of Kansas professor is waging a war against traditional education and sociological problems.
James L. Koevenig, assistant professor of biology and botany, sees himself as a catalyst.
"I'm not a resource person," he said. "Often there are people more qualified than I. Instead, my function is to throw out ideas and get people moving."
"Moving in the classroom means thinking. Koevenig said he wanted students to understand the significance of ideas, not learn and regurgitate specific facts.
"I try to show students the way they can take knowledge and apply it," he said. "I want them to know how ideas come about and the evidences for the ideas."
He said the best example of this process was in mathematics because students learned by doing problems. In biology, he said, it often has to be a vicarious experience. The students must get some feeling and understanding of biology by seeing the progress of others, he said.
"Group games" are often initiated by Koevenig to help students start "thinking and talking." If they ask him one question, he asks them three.
Sex myths affect mind
DENVER (UPI)—Sexual myths are one of the biggest stumbling blocks to mental health in the United States, a Houston psychologist said Wednesday at an American Medical Association convention.
The psychologist, James L. McCary of the University of Houston, speaking on a panel on "sexual problems in medical practice," said there were a number of sexual myths believed by both the educated and uneducated.
Among these myths, all false according to McCary, are that sexual interest and activity decline rapidly at middle age; that simultaneous orgasm is necessary for sexual happiness; that Negroes have greater sexual drives than whites, and that sex offenders are over-sexed and commit progressively more serious crimes.
Another speaker, Dr. Nathan M. Simon of St. Louis, said it should be the woman's decision whether to have an abortion.
He criticized abortion laws in most states that limit abortion to "therapeutic" reasons, and cited the case of a woman with a heart condition who was refused an abortion because she didn't qualify, even though she would have had to stay in a hospital bed the last six months of her pregnancy.
The first thing to be considered, Simon said, was the woman's own deep-seated conviction, arrived at without pressure from family or friends, that she wanted to end her pregnancy.
In Kansas, it is unlawful for any person to advertise any alcoholic liquor by means of handbills.
Dec. 10
1969 KANSAN 13
ROYAL MASTER CLEANERS 842 Mass.
- Men's & Ladies' 2 piece Suits ___ $1.29
- Plain Jacket $1.90
- Plain Dresses
- Shirts Laundered
  After S1
Mon., Tues. & Wed.
with dry clean order
7:30 - 6:00 Mon.- Sat.
"Sometimes I have to chew and needle and probe to get responses," he said.
Prof. Koevenig
Koevenig uses the same game techniques on his own children, Kim and Kurt. He said he thought teachers often didn't have time or training for this type of guidance.
In addition, Koevenig frequently employs thought provoking films to illicit responses. As he shows a film based on a biological phenomenon such as mimicry in nature, the periodically stops the film so the class can respond.
He said the technique worked best in smaller groups such as an honors section. However, he has also tried to use the method in his large lecture classes but it's much harder because students "sit in a lump". He finds it necessary to walk up and down the aisles encouraging students to "give it a try and turn the wheels."
Although Koevenig said he had a concrete outline and had also written a text, he prefers to teach without notes. He said he thought lectures were more spontaneous without notes if he adjusted the material to fit the class.
"If I see students are failing to grasp the ideas, I ask myself if the material is irrelevant or if I haven't shown the relevance. The students help me recognize things I'm doing wrong," he said.
Koevengi had television lectures eliminated this intercourse and that was why he had been fighting them for years. Even though they are cheaper and more practical, he said he thought that rapport was more valuable
The most difficult problem of teaching thinking, Koevenig said, is the evaluation process.
"We don't know how to evaluate processes other than rote learning. People get locked into the system of grades and it's difficult to get aspects of thinking."
Koevening said he refused to compromise on making students think and was constantly experimenting with testing procedures.
questions aren't hard but demand thinking, and students hate me for it. They find evaluation difficult because they don't know how to think."
"I want to evaluate learning at more than a superficial level. My
is planning a three-credit course on sociological problems for next semester.
He tentively plans to present lectures on problems facing society such as population, pollution, DDT and lead poisoning. Graduate students will lead the discussions.
"All teaching will be voluntary," he said, "because it's something we felt was needed to be done."
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE
21. ADLIA STEVENSON: PATRICIAN AMONG THE POLITICIANS
BERT COCHRAN
$10.00
Who ignited political consciousness and awareness on the American political scene? Cochran presents us with a man who emerges from the first days of his government service in 1934 to his final hours as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Funk & Wagnall's
22. POST-PRISON WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
ELDRIDGE CLEAVER Paper $1.95
Brilliant, profound, biting, often funny, this collection of articles and speeches is vital to a true understanding of Cleaver's hard thought. Vintage, Random House
23. AMERICAN POWER AND THE
NOAM CHOMSKY Paper $2.45
NOAM CHOMSKY Paper $2.45 One of the most important documents of social criticism in the last two decades, Chomsky examines the post-war rise to power of a new elite—the liberal intellectuals, or, "new Mandarins".
24. THE ACADEMIC REVOLUTION CHRISTOPHER JENCKS AND DAVIS REISMAN
A controversial history and analysis of higher education in America and its relationship to American society. Doubleday
25. THE MAKING OF A COUNTER CULTURE
THEODORE ROSZAK Paper $1.95
Reflections on the technocratic society and its youthful opposition. Roszak examines in detail some of the leading influences on the youthful counterculture, Herbert Marcuse, Norman Brown,
Allen Ginsburg, Alan Watts, Tim Leary, and Paul Goodman, Doubleday
26. AGE OF ROCK
JONATHAN EISEN Paper $2.95 A collection of the best writing on the rock culture and business.The most prestigious names in the rock field are discussed by scholars, hipsters, musicians journalists, and themselves. Macmillan