Seminar 677000 225711359 2008-07-15T01:00:08Z Bobo192 97951 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/213.217.250.101|213.217.250.101]] ([[User talk:213.217.250.101|talk]]) to last version by Versageek {{unreferenced|date=February 2008}} '''Seminar''' is, generally, a form of [[academic]] instruction, either at a [[university]] or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate. This is often accomplished through an ongoing [[Socratic method|Socratic dialogue]] with a seminar leader or instructor, or through a more formal presentation of research. Normally, participants must not be beginners in the field under discussion (at US universities, seminar classes are generally reserved for upper-year students, although at UK and Australian universities seminars are often used for all years). The idea behind the seminar system is to familiarise students more extensively with the [[methodology]] of their chosen subject and also to allow them to interact with examples of the practical problems that always crop up during research work. It is essentially a place where assigned readings are discussed, questions can be raised and [[debate]]s conducted. It is relatively informal, at least compared to the [[lecture]] system of academic instruction. In some European universities, a ''seminar'' may be a large lecture course, especially when conducted by a renowned thinker (regardless of the size of the audience or the scope of student participation in discussion). ==Origins of the word== A seminar although similar to a presentation is an entirely different thing. The word ''seminar'' is derived from the Latin word ''seminarium'', meaning "seed plot." ==See also== * [[French mathematical seminars]] *[[Seminary]] (for religious training) *[[Lesson]] (the form of teaching prevalent in [[school]]s) *[[School and university in literature]] *[[Webinar]] (a [[World Wide Web]] based seminar) *[[Labinar]] (a combination of a laboratory and a seminar) [[Category:Teaching]] {{Edu-stub}} {{Wikibooks}} [[bg:Семинар]] [[de:Seminar]] [[es:seminario]] [[fi:Seminaari]] [[id:Seminar]] [[ja:ゼミナール]] [[ru:Семинар]] [[sv:Seminarium]] [[th:การสัมมนา]] [[zh:講座]]