Eastern Student Paige Schneider of Niantic Completes Dublin Global Field Course

2016 Jul 13

The Office of Continuing Studies and Enhanced Learning at Eastern offers Global Field Courses throughout the academic year. The programs offer the opportunity to earn at least three credits while traveling with an Eastern faculty member.

Eastern students recently returned from a global field course at University College Dublin, Ireland, titled "History of Psychology." The course was lead by Eastern Professor Jenna Scisco.

Paige Schneider '16 of Niantic was among the students who participated in the global field course. Schneider's major is Early Childhood Education.

The Republic of Ireland is celebrating the centennial of the 1916 Easter Rising, a revolutionary event that led to Ireland's ultimate independence from Britain. Students were immersed in Ireland's fascinating yet turbulent history through a historic walking tour in Dublin's city center; a visit to the Michael Collins Center in Clonakilty to learn about his critical contributions to the Irish Revolution and Civil War; and a guided tour of Skibbereen Heritage Center to learn about the tragic Great Famine.

The students also visited Kerry Wollen Mill to learn about the wool industry in Ireland and toured the beautiful Ring of Kerry on Ireland's southwest coast. On another course excursion, the students visited Newgrange, an ancient tomb and spiritual site dating back to 3200 B.C., and Clonmacnoise, a monastic site settled in 544 AD. Gerald Conlogue, retired professor of diagnostic imaging from Quinnipiac University, delivered a guest lecture on bog bodies that was followed up by a visit to Mongan Bog.

By learning about Ireland's history through these site visits and associated readings, the students came to understand why psychology was late in arriving in Ireland relative to the United States. Modern scientific psychology did not exist in Ireland until the 1950s. Each student in the course wrote a biography of a current Irish psychologist and traced their academic lineage. Through this project, they explored how Irish psychologists were influenced by the original founders and schools of thought in psychology.

At University College Cork, retired Senior Lecturer Ronny Swain gave an entertaining lecture on the history of psychology in Ireland, which placed psychology within Ireland's historical and cultural contexts. The students also had the opportunity to see the Ballinasloe Asylum from the outside, providing a glimpse into Ireland's past treatment of individuals in these facilities. To wrap up the four weeks in Ireland, students saw "The Wake," a play at Abbey Theatre in Dublin that touched on a psychiatric patient's experiences at an asylum in Ireland prior to enlightenment about mental illness.