Spring 2009 Learning Communities
Learning Communities are linked classes that enable students to create greater coherence in their studies and enhance intellectual interaction with faculty and fellow students. The courses are designed to fulfill liberal education requirements and prerequisites for the majors in CEHD. In Spring 2009 PsTL will offer 14 Learning Communities (LC). The LCs will relate to one of three themes; Examining the Good Life, Minding the Body, and Thinking Globally, Acting Locally. Descriptions for the 14 LCs are below.
Examining the Good Life: One World, Many Selves: Psychology and Art
PsTL 1289 taught by Tabitha Grier PsTL 1312 taught by Linda Buturian
Description of Learning Community: This learning community introduces students to the exploration of identity through psychology and art. The course Psychology and Self: Developing Identities (PsTL 1289) focuses on the self, identity, and the contextual forces that shape who we are. In PsTL 1312, Creating Identity Through Art and Performance, students are introduced to different genres of art, including music, film, writing, and multimedia performances, and have the opportunity to create art as well. As we all engage in defining the good life, students in “One World, Many Selves” will analyze and explore themselves, their community, and contemporary culture.
Examining the Good Life: Players in the Game
PsTL 1281 taught by Na’im Madyun PsTL 1366 taught by Ezra Hyland
Description of Learning Community: Some say life is a game; people play roles, keep score, and learn the rules and tools for surviving and thriving. In this learning community, we'll explore the "games" people play to become the individuals they are. Through psychology and African American literature, short novels, experimental studies, reflective writings and open discussions will be used to address and examine normality, development, social pressure, love, fear, and other factors that make life more than just a game.
Examining the Good Life: Statistically Speaking
PsTL 1004 taught by Suzanne Loch PsTL 1461 taught by Jill Trites
Description of Learning Community: Our learning community focuses on examining what it means to live the good life. You will learn how to utilize statistical tools while developing your voice to present to a variety of audiences. You will develop a persuasive speech that examines a theme of the good life and will base your line of reasoning on audience data you collect and analyze. You will also work in a small group setting and conduct a statistical investigation of a characteristic or attitude of the good life. Your group will present its findings and observations to the class.
Examining the Good Life: Words Shaping our World
PsTL 1368 taught by Kris Cory PsTL 1461 taught by Margaret Delehanty-Kelly
Description of Learning Community: How can stories help us understand our lives and the world we live in? How can our own words and speech help us and others lead good lives? This learning community will use International Literature and Speech to explore social and political issues that shape and inform the paths of individuals. As readers, scholars, and citizens we will examine the ways that words, both written and spoken, create, illuminate, and change our world. Student work will culminate in a joint project connecting both courses, with both a written and spoken component.
Minding the Body: The Body's Experience and the Mind's Response
PsTL 1281 taught by Cathy Wambach PsTL 1366 taught by Molly Collins
Description of Learning Community: In these two courses, students will make connections between a Literature course focusing on the American Immigrant Experience and general Psychology. Psychological principles will help explain some of the changes that characters in literary texts go through as life in a new culture leads to culture shock, identity changes, intergenerational conflict, and recovery from trauma. Psychology and literature both help us understand individual, family and community responses to a variety of experiences. Together, they help us explore the connection between the body’s experience and the mind’s response, and to appreciate the powerful healing that self expression can bring.
Minding the Body: Health and Citizenship in the 21st Century
PsTL 1135 taught by Murray Jensen PsTL 1246 taught by Gary Peter
Description of Learning Community: In the United States, you can legally get paid to carry someone else’s child, and you can legally sell your blood plasma for some extra cash. So why is it illegal to sell a kidney, even though you have two and only need one? Or why can’t a family get money for a loved one’s healthy organs donated after a fatal accident? In this Learning Community cluster combining PsTL 1246, Multicultural Contexts: Engaging Citizenship and Democracy, and PsTL 1135 Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology, we’ll examine the sometimes uncomfortable intersection of law, science, and technology. We’ll also explore the difficult relationship between laws and ethics when it comes to understanding what we can (and cannot) do with our bodies.
Minding the Body: Modeling the World
PsTL 1163 taught by Leon Hsu PsTL 1006 taught by Sue Staats
Description of Learning Community: Students will work in small groups on laboratory experiments and peer discussions to discover and develop principles in physics and algebra. In 1163, students will perform experiments, build theories (models) with predictive power of how things work, and test their theories through further experiments. In 1006, students will develop algebraic models using a variety of real-world data such as economic, medical, and sociological information. Both classes emphasize analytical skills, focusing on communicating reasoning and supporting evidence. The theme of the learning community, "Minding the Body," is expressed through projects in optics (developing models to understand how light and human vision work) and motion (using concepts from physics and mathematics to model human motion).
Minding the Body: Multicultural Perspectives on Family & Community
PsTL 1211 taught by Karen Miksch FSoS 2101 taught by William Goodman
Description of Learning Community: In this learning community we will consider what it means to Mind the Body at the individual and societal level by combining two courses: Preparation for Working with Families (FSOS 2101) and Multicultural Perspectives in Sociology (PsTL 1211). In this learning community students will have opportunities to learn more about themselves as individuals and how their personal history and living may someday interface with the helping professions. In addition, students will explore using their Sociological Imaginations to understand the social causes of what are often seen as only individual problems (divorce, for example) and to come up with comprehensive solutions. Many learning opportunities will be provided to students in an attempt to engender an appreciation of the diverse nature of helping others. Professionals from the field will visit the class, and students will engage the community surrounding the university.
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Developing a GPS for Engaged Citizenship
PsTL 1004 taught by Irene Duranczyk PsTL 1246 taught by Bob Poch PsTL 1481 taught by Ezra Hyland
Description of Learning Community: Do you know your location on the democracy/citizenship Global Positioning System (GPS) continuum? Are you fully participating in democratic action, distanced and outside the action, or somewhere in between? This learning community will consider the ways that law, public policy, film, and art have defined and quantified "citizenship" and "democracy" in the United States. Taking a historical perspective, students will consider how race, class, gender, disability, religion, immigration, and sexual orientation in the U.S. can "position" people for democratic citizenship or disengagement. But we'll also consider how we can learn to position ourselves where we want to be. Students will analyze information from both arts and history, using algebra, statistics and quantitative reasoning, to understand their own global positioning and how participation in democracy/citizenship can strengthen our nation and local communities. Join us in the discovery!
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: The Intricate Web of Life
PsTL 1131 taught by Jay Hatch PsTL 1251 taught by David Arendale PsTL 1312 taught by Tina Frederickson
Description of Learning Community: We are all connected in an intricate web of life, woven by nature, human culture, and the unrelenting march of time. This learning community explores and illuminates the threads of this web—their creation, alteration, destruction, and reinvention—through the disciplines of performing arts, biology, and history. Using both learning activities based in individual courses and joint projects connecting all three classes, we will explore different ways of knowing in science, history and performing arts to grow an integrated understanding of how what we do locally produces global consequences and vice versa.
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Math Rocks
PsTL 1006 taught by Janet Stottlemyer PsTL 1171 taught by Annia Fayon Description of Learning Community: Processes in nature occur over different spans of space and time. Earth scientists observe patterns in nature locally and, based on these observations, will predict patterns on a global scale. This learning community combines Modeling and Prediction (PsTL1006) and Earth Systems and Environments (PsTL1171) to promote mathematical reasoning in the context of observable natural processes. Course content will be linked through a series of physical geology laboratory exercises in 1171 that apply mathematical principles introduced in 1006. The main objective of this community is for students to learn how variables in nature can by understood as variables in mathematical relationships. Fundamental mathematical concepts will help us describe changes in earth’s environments over timescales ranging from human history (1000’s of years) to geologic time (billions of years).
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Quantifying the American Dream
PsTL 1004 taught by Suzanne Loch PsTL 1231 taught by David Ghere
Description of Learning Community: In this learning community students will examine events that shape the American Dream from both a historical and statistical perspective. In the two major paper assignments, students will use data sets provided by the instructors to explore patterns and trends in the 1930s (for the first paper) and in the late twentieth century (for the second paper). Students will use skills and knowledge from both classes for these papers; the first section of each paper will provide a statistical analysis of the data set while the second section will examine what the data set reveals about the historical topic. In the statistics class, we’ll analyze data sets from the time period being covered in the history class. In the history class, we’ll discuss what graphs developed in the statistics class teach us about that time period.
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Sharing Identities – An Arts and Social Science Kaleidoscope
PsTL 1204 taught by Mike Stebleton PsTL 1312 taught by Heather Dorsey
Description of Learning Community: In this learning community, the social sciences and the performing arts come together in an expressive and innovative collaboration. Through international and multi-cultural lenses, students will discover how our collective past and present experiences shape our identities. By combining theatrical texts, music, visual art, and an exploration of the social sciences, this community will examine the concepts such as “place as self and identity” and how this new-found knowledge enables us the opportunity to shape our future, both locally and globally. This learning community will also examine our collective stories and shared experiences by attending live performances, museums and tours.
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: What can young people do?
PsTL 1368 taught by Kris Cory YoST 1001 taught by Michael Baizerman
Description of Learning Community: This learning community links International Literature and Youth Studies to explore individual stories, choices and lives and to consider how personal experiences connect individuals to larger social, cultural and political issues. Literature invites us to investigate how stories and language represent our internal and external experiences. Youth Studies invites us to develop a critical awareness of the forces (texts, theories, media, actions) that shape our understanding of and approach to youth. Together these classes will address the various ways being young is experienced and viewed across cultures and nations. Using perspectives from literature, psychology, and sociology, students will identify recurring themes, consider their own emerging views, and connect these discoveries to their own experiences and communities.