Question 1: What should matter to me?
CIE - Students will:
- Develop habits of self-reflection about what matters to them, what should matter to them, and the difference between the two
- Become active participants in a campus intellectual community
- Become better at critically reading and responding to texts and experiences from a wide range of disciplines, cultures and time periods
- Become more skilled participants in group discussions
- Become better writers
Question 2: How should we live together?
Diversity and Inequality (DN) - Students will:
- Explicitly engage and reflect on the question How should we live together? with reference to themes of diversity, difference, and social and political equality and inequality
- Analyze the operation of privilege, merited and unmerited, that reflects the unequal distribution of power in the world, and reflect critically on the causes and effects of political and social equality and inequality in the light of racial, ethnic, class, gender, sexuality, disability status, religious and/or other differences
- Develop the habit of giving serious consideration to viewpoints very different from their own, even, or especially, when these may be troubling or unsettling
Global Interconnections (GN) - Students will:
- Explicitly engage and reflect on the question How should we live together? with emphasis on how peoples of different cultures, societies, regions, and countries form and transmit the values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that distinguish them
- Develop familiarity with and the ability to reflect and analyze global, non-Western perspectives
Obligations (O) - Students will:
- Explicitly engage and reflect on the question How should we live together? with special consideration of our obligations to others
- Develop familiarity with ideas and claims, whether past or present, whether concrete or abstract, about what individuals or group entities should do in relation to some other or others
- Reflect critically and analytically on those ideas and claims
Question 3: How can we understand the world?
Artistic/performative (A) - Students will:
- Develop their ability to explain and apply creative practices as a way of understanding and examining their experiences or the world around them, including artistic or creative expression in whatever form they may take
- Identify the influence of context or cultural perspectives on their understanding of the world as interpreted through an artistic or performative approach
Deductive reasoning (R) - Students will:
- Start from a premise or premises and use a logical process to reach a sound conclusion
- Develop their ability to demonstrate a complete solution with justification of all steps to reach that solution
- Consider how context and framing influence the approach they use in reaching conclusions
Humanistic inquiry (H) - Students will:
- Explore human experience through attention to textual interpretation and by seeking to understand diverse perspectives
- Develop the ability to use interpretive and rhetorical tools to construct and evaluate arguments
- Identify influences of context and/or cultural perspectives on our understanding of the world
Quantitative reasoning (Q) - Students will:
- Apply mathematical concepts to solve everyday problems
- Explain quantitative information presented in a variety of forms
- Demonstrate the ability to complete calculations, work with data, draw conclusions based on analysis, and explain their findings
- Consider how the context surrounding the problems influences the approach they use to develop a solution
Scientific inquiry/experimentation (S) - Students will:
- Develop the ability to explain and apply evidence-based approaches to understanding natural phenomena
- Understand the roles of theory, observation, hypothesis development, prediction, and data collection and validation in the accumulation of scientific knowledge
- Participate in methods of inquiry and/or experimentation that include at least one of the following approaches: bench work, field work, observation of the natural world, utilization of scientific databases, and modeling of natural phenomena
- Seek to understand how the disciplinary and historical contexts of scientific developments influence their view of the natural world
Social scientific inquiry (SS) - Students will:
- Develop their ability to explain and apply an empirical approach to understanding relationships between social structures and human agency
- Identify the influence of cultural perspectives on our understanding of the world
Foreign language (L) - Students will:
- Engage in communicative activities on common topics using a foreign language
- Learn how language syntax and terminology informs us about different cultures
- Develop their ability to recognize and value the distinctive characteristics of a foreign language
Linked Inquiry (LINQ) - Students will:
- Explicitly apply multiple disciplinary perspectives and understandings of a theme, topic, problem, or idea
- Reflect on and demonstrate how interdisciplinary approaches to a problem can be useful in understanding the world
Question 4: What will I do?
Experiential Learning Project (XLP) - Students will:
- Develop independent thinking skills, their awareness of self and others, and their capacity for reflection by adopting different perspectives and inquiring into their own beliefs
- Apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom successfully and thoughtfully to an experience outside of the classroom
- Gain knowledge and skills that are applicable to future pursuits
- Disseminate their project (e.g., internship essay, public presentation, research paper) including synthesis of the XLP with previous class learning
Core Capstone (CCAP) Students will:
- Reflect substantively, both individually and in groups, on Question 4 (“What will I do?”), and how that answer is informed by their answers to Questions 1, 2, and 3
- Draw explicit synthetic and/or constructive connections between their experiences in various courses, including those outside their major, and co-curricular activities, demonstrating transformations they have had over time and connecting college with something of meaning in their own lives
- Articulate guiding principles for future ethical decision-making and reflect on how those principles have changes during their time at Ursinus