About First Step Discovery

Doe Library, University of California, Berkeley

The Beginnings of First Step Discovery 

The beginnings of First Step Discovery can be traced to a 2018-2019 UC Berkeley pilot with the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program(link is external). The team (Pat Steenland, College Writing; Rick Kern, French: Ramona Naddaff, Rhetoric; Vesna Rodic, French) worked with two groups of faculty from College Writing and French to introduce primary sources into beginning requirements. The pilot innovated an early version of Discovery pedagogy. In 2021, the team developed the First Step project.

Transformative Thinking, Transformative Learning 

In 2021, the First Step project was awarded one of four fully funded Departmental Innovation Awards from the newly created Discovery Initiative. With this grant, from 2021-2024 an interdisciplinary core group of Berkeley faculty explored this question: can Berkeley’s beginning requirements be reimagined, from skills-based introductory classes into deeply enriching inquiry-based seminars?

The First Step Discovery project drew on these principles: 

  • Embedding inquiry into pedagogy
  • Integrating primary sources into the curriculum
  • Structuring collaborative and creative projects into each course 
  • Providing experiential learning opportunities
  • Connecting students to Discovery pathways that lead outside the classroom.

 The results were transformative, both for teachers and students

Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program

The Power of First Step

First Step enables students from all walks of life to connect, immerse and create as active learners.  To date, the power of First Step has extended to: 

  • 40 teachers
  • 22 departments & programs
  • Over 2500 student learners 

Read their stories of transformative learning.

Key Supporters and Enablers

The First Step team would like to thank Peter Chernin whose generosity made First Step possible.

We'd also like to thank the generous supporters of this project who helped make it happen and also our wonderful colleagues whose work helped to shape it: Oliver O’Reilly, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; Alessandra Lanzara, Faculty Director,  Berkeley Discovery; Leslie Harlson, Executive Director, Berkeley Discovery; Victoria Robinson, Director of American Cultures; Evelyn Thorne, Discovery Hub Outreach & Programs Coordinator; Lisa Wymore, Faculty Advisor for Creative Discovery; Sean Burns, former Director, Center for Undergraduate Discovery at University; Jenae Cohn, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning; former Vice Chancellor Cathy Koshland; Bree Rosenblum, former Faculty Director, Berkeley Discovery; Sarah Westbrook, the Right Question Institute; Keith Patterson,  the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program, Western Division; and most of all, the faculty and students whose work brought Discovery to life.