Ellen Eischen is a professor of mathematics at the University of Oregon. In addition to her mathematical training, she has substantial training as an improvisor, which turned out to have a significant impact on her professional development. She is the PI on two National Science Foundation grants that have enabled us to collaborate on projects to adapt principles of improv to enhance teaching and learning.
Register for new workshops at UO:
* Improv for STEM Communication
1-4 pm, Feb 19, Crater Lake Rooms in EMU
* Improv for Increasing Classroom Engagement
9-noon, Feb 20, Gumwood Room in EMU
Who We Are
About this project
We are developing a series of interactive workshops that provide tools and exercises adapted from improvisational theater to help increase engagement in the classroom and beyond. Our prior projects include workshops for instructors like Yes And! Improvisation as a Tool for Enhancing Teaching and Learning and Whose Math is it Anyway? Interactive Engagement in Remote Classes, as well as integration of improv exercises into an undergraduate math class. For more information, email Ellen Eischen at eeischen@uoregon.edu.
Yes And!
Improv for Math and Science
Example of Workshop
Currently Under Development
Explain your very-very-hard-to-understand research to anyone.
Do some research topics feel too hard or dry or otherwise unsuitable to share with an audience in an engaging way? Learn to connect with your audience without resorting to gimmicks or cheap tricks and without losing your audience's interest. This workshop, which includes exercises adapted from improvisational theater, will help participants build a bridge between their main points and the audiences they hope to reach. Bring an open mind and an abstract you want to improve for an upcoming talk or paper.
Heather Barnes is the founder and CEO of Improv@Work. She teaches presentation skills at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and she previously was an instructor at Chicago's Second City, Director of the Center for Advancement of Science Education at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, and Director at the Shedd Aquarium.
Our work has been partly supported by Eischen's NSF CAREER grant DMS-1751281, her NSF research grant DMS-2302011, and the Williams Fund.