The Introduction, Popularization And Influence Of Seminar In American University

Seminar is an inquiry teaching model, which produced in the free academic atmosphere of modern German University. It was introduced into American University in the1870s. By the chance of John Hopkins University’s establishment in1876, seminar got a true sense of the development in American University. Due to its superiority in raising the level of the teaching and research, and the validity of cultivating students’ capacity of originative thinking and independent research, seminar was recognized by the American University, and gradually popularize in all American universities.From the introduction in the old colleges of arts and science to the wide adoption in research universities, and then to the popularization in the top new liberal arts colleges, seminar enriched its connotation and expanded its extension in the process of continual adjustment in the American University, and ultimately established as an important means of teaching and curriculum models in American university. Seminar had not only greatly improved American University’s standard of research and teaching, and led to the growth of the idea and system of the modern American University, but also promoted the teaching reformation of American University.The dissertation is on the clue of the introduction and popularization of seminar in American University, and it takes the typical American University as the case of study, describes and analysis the development of seminar in American University. Finally, it summarizes the influence of popularizing the seminar of American University.