A Curriculum Proposed For Liberal Arts and Science

By The Council of Liberal Arts and Science

Spring 1998

Note: This document is what the Schools of Science and Liberal Arts approved in 1998. It contains the fullest rationale for the Common Core Curriculum, but it must be read as a historical document. It refers, for example, to 5 Principles of Undergraduate Education, which later were refined, and adopted, as 9 Principles of Undergraduate Learning. The Science and Liberal Arts Bulletins contain current descriptions of full degree requirements. This document is preserved to enhance the historical record and guide future discussions.

Table of Contents

1. A Principled Curriculum
2. A Curriculum Based On the Principles for Undergraduate Education
3. Overview of a Principled Curriculum
4. A Common Core
5. The Common Core Requirements
   
6. Credit Hours
7. Proposal for a New Core Curriculum Committee
8. Sample Curricula
   • Sample Curriculum for Students in Liberal Arts or Science (B.A.)
     
   • Sample Curriculum for Students in Science Bachelor of Science Degree
     
   • Sample Curriculum for Students in Biology Bachelor of Science Degree
     
     
9. Some Specific Benefits of a Common Core Curriculum
10. Description of a Principled Curriculum
11. Relationship of the Curriculum to the Principles of Undergraduate Education
12. Framework of the Basic Core
    • First-Year Experience (1 - 3 credits)
    • Junior/Senior Integrator (3 credits)
    • Capstone Experience (1 - 3 credits)

13. Core Communication Skills
    • Written Communication
    • Oral Communication
    • Writing Throughout the Curriculum
    • Foreign Language
      
      
14. Core Quantitative Skills
15. Approaches to Knowledge
    • Natural Science
    • Introduction to the College-level Natural Sciences (3 credits)
    • History of Western Civilization (H114) (3 credits)
      
      
16. Completing the Approaches to Knowledge (9 credits)
17. Ethics and Values and Aesthetics
18. Conclusions
19. Acknowledgements
20. Appendix A - Council of Liberal Arts and Science ~ Members 1994 - 1998
21. Appendix B
    • School of Liberal Arts Standards and Policies Committee 1997-1998
    • School of Science Educational Policy Committee 1997-1998

A Principled Curriculum

This curriculum is a recommendation to the faculties of the Schools of Liberal Arts and Science for a common core curriculum by the Council of Liberal Arts and Science (CLAS). CLAS recommends full implementation of the curriculum in Fall Semester 2000. A list of past and present members of CLAS may be found in Appendix A. The members of the School of Liberal Arts Academic Standards and Policies Committee and the School of Science Educational Policy Committee and many individual members of the faculty have provided substantial input into this final document. Members of the School of Liberal Arts Academic Standards and Policies Committee and The School of Science Educational Policy Committee are listed in Appendix B. The guiding philosophy in constructing this curriculum is that it reflects a balanced set of requirements in the sciences and in the humanities and the social sciences. The Committee believes a common core curriculum will increase faculty collaboration and foster interdisciplinary ties across schools. It will help all liberal arts and science students become better prepared for courses in their majors and will simplify and expand student options with respect to choosing a major and pursuing a double degree (across schools).

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A Curriculum Based on the Principles for Undergraduate Education

The first task taken up by CLAS when it was formed was to present a set of general education principles to the faculty of the two schools. These principles were drafted and, after revision and discussion, were passed, first by a joint committee for curriculum from the two schools, and then by each faculty governing body. The latest version of the general education principles is under discussion at the campus level. These principles are nearly identical to those originally passed by the two schools.

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Principles of Undergraduate Education

Purpose of General Education

The purpose of the general education curriculum is to prepare students to communicate well, reason quantitatively, think critically and evaluate information, understand the varied history and social constructs of the human species and the consequences of differences, be intellectually adaptive, and understand the origin and importance of ethics, aesthetics, and values.Throughout the curricula of the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science students will collaborate with each other and the faculty in the pursuit of learning. Students will be encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to participate in co-curricular activities and service activities, and to enhance their abilities to learn through increased self-awareness. (Individual schools and departments may wish to have their own special requirements in these areas and are free to do so.)

Principles of General Education

1. COMMUNICATION AND CORE SKILLS
   

   Competence in reading, writing, speaking, listening, quantitative reasoning, and use of information technology

2. ANALYTICAL THINKING
   

   Competence in reasoning clearly, including thinking logically and criticallyCompetence in retrieving and interpreting information and applying the scientific method

3. INTELLECTUAL DEPTH, BREADTH, AND ADAPTIVENESS
   

   Thinking and knowing in a variety of disciplinesIntellectual adaptabilityWillingness to entertain other points of view

4. INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE
   

   Ability to integrate and apply knowledge and experience from different disciplines and to bring together various elements of knowledge to form a whole

5. UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY AND CULTURE
   

   Knowledge of the similarities and differences among world cultures, including one's own, both past and presentKnowledge of the natural environment and its relationship to human activityKnowledge of ethics and values

Purpose of the Major

The purpose of the major is to develop a concentration in areas of study at a high level of competency, integrating the Principles of General Education in greater depth and substance.

The curriculum presented here is rooted in the above principles and represents a solid general education curriculum. However, CLAS emphasizes that the principles, as embodied in general education, should come to life across the curriculum, including in the major. In its deliberations and considerations CLAS did not make distinctions when considering requirements for students seeking majors in the two schools. This curriculum is designed for both Science AND Liberal Arts students.

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Overview of A Principled Curriculum

A student's curriculum in Liberal Arts and Science has three major components:

1. The Common Core Requirements
2. School-Specific Requirements
3. Major Requirements

Each of these elements is integrally related to the Principles of Undergraduate Education. The Common Core Requirements include those elements of the curriculum taken by all students in both schools. Each school may add requirements beyond the core requirements as it sees fit. To retain the ability to double-degree across the two schools, CLAS suggests that all school-specific requirements be waived for students who are earning such double degrees. These waivers would be for school-specific requirements only, not for any departmental-level requirements. Departments and programs specify further requirements that constitute work in the major.

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A Common Core

This core is recommended as a set of courses that are necessary but not sufficient for a degree in either Liberal Arts or Science. It represents a common set of experiences for students in both schools, but not the total academic experience. There will be a single core of requirements for all B.S. students and a single core for all B.A. students in Liberal Arts AND Science. Leeway is built in to allow choice from the rich variety of offerings within the schools to ensure students are firmly grounded in the principles before they graduate. The number of hours in the core curriculum is an important consideration. It was decided that the number of elective hours within the core should be held to a reasonable minimum to allow students enough credits to complete easily the major.

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The Common Core Requirements

1. Framework of the Basic Core

   • First-Year Experience (1-3 credits)
   • Junior/Senior Integrator Course (3 credits) - This course is to be chosen from a list of Integrator courses. It may be substituted for as described on the next page if enough courses are not available to meet student demand. It generally should be taken in the junior or senior year. This course is listed and described under 4 (Approaches to Knowledge).
   • Capstone Experience (1-3 credits)

2. Core Communication Skills

   • Written Communication (6 credits)
     1. W131 - Elementary Composition 1
     2. A second writing course with W131 as a prerequisite, coming from a short list including W132, W231, or TCM320
     3. Writing throughout the curriculum (more details on writing throughout the curriculum are provided later in the document)
   • Oral Communication (3 credits)
     1. R110 - Fundamentals of Speech
   • Foreign Language Proficiency (B.A. only) (10 credits)
     1. first year proficiency in a foreign language for the B.A. degree only (could be up to 10 credits for a student having no proficiency upon matriculation)

3. Core Quantitative and Analytical Skills (6 credits)

   • One college-level mathematics course (beyond the level of Math 111)
     1. Math 123, Math 130, and Math 132 may not be used.
   • A second course with substantial analytical content -
     1. to be chosen from a list that would include mathematics (beyond the level of Math 111), statistics, and computer and information science courses. Courses in logic or other analytical methods could be added to the list.
     2. Math 118 and Math 119 are strongly recommended as courses that develop core quantitative and analytical skills.
4. Approaches to knowledge that further address analytical thinking/intellectual depth, breadth, and adaptiveness/understanding society and culture. Courses must be taken from outside the major.

   
   Natural Sciences (8-11 credits)
   

   • Three natural science courses of more than one credit each. One of the courses must have an associated laboratory of one or two credits. The courses and laboratory must total a minimum of eight hours.
   • An Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences, an integrator course in the sciences (3 credits) may be substituted for one of the natural science courses and is strongly recommended.

   Humanities, Social Science and Comparative World Cultures (15 credits)
   

   • History of Western Civilization II (H114) (3 credits)
   • One course (3 credits) from a list of Humanities courses- One course (3 credits) from a list of Social Science courses
   • One course (3 credits) from a list of Comparative World Cultures courses
   • One course (3 credits) from a list of Junior/Senior Integrator courses. Courses on this list are designed to integrate the three areas of Humanities, Social Science, and Science. Courses will be designed to demonstrate that the Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Natural Sciences are interrelated and interdependent. They will examine the philosophical relationships among science and the arts and humanities that involve the interplay of science, politics and social policy as well as the crucial interplay among science and technology and the social order and political decisions. Should insufficient Integrator courses be available to meet student demand, students may, with permission of a student's major department, register for one additional course from the Humanities/Social Science/Comparative World Cultures lists or from the Sciences. A student who must substitute for an Integrator course must register for a course outside of her/his area. A student in the humanities must register for a course in the Social Sciences or the Sciences. A student in Science must register for a course in the Humanities or Social Sciences. A student in the Social Sciences must register for a course in the Humanities or the Sciences.
     
     

5. Ethics, Values, and Aesthetics
   
   One of the fundamental principles of a general education is the understanding of ethical values and aesthetic appreciation. This understanding should be developed throughout the curriculum. The First Year Experience will particularly familiarize students with the ethical standards of the academy regarding plagiarism, freedom of speech, and civility. The Capstone Experience will address ethical considerations from the viewpoint of the student's major discipline. The required speech course also emphasizes ethical behavior in public speaking. The History of Western Civilization and the Comparative World Cultures courses address ethical issues inherent in cross-cultural encounters. While an appreciation for ethical values will be addressed in freshman seminars, capstone experiences and elsewhere in the curriculum, students are encouraged to regi ster for courses that specifically address ethics, values, and aesthetics.
   
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Credit Hours

The total credit hours is 50 - 57, with the range deriving from potential variability in the freshman experience, capstone experience and natural sciences courses. The number of credit hours for the capstone is at the discretion of the major department. The freshman experience is satisfied with courses offered by the departments, schools, or University College. Note that all science majors will easily fulfill the natural sciences requirement as they work toward their degrees. Foreign Language courses would be taken only if students did not meet the proficiency upon matriculation. Foreign language departments provide proficiency testing.

Proposal for a New Core Curriculum Committee

CLAS proposes that a new Core Curriculum Committee be established with four members each from the School of Science and the School of Liberal Arts. One person should be appointed as a non-voting ex officio member from University College. This should be a standing committee in each school with reporting lines to each school's faculty governance. Each school may use its own procedures to appoint members to this committee. Terms of appointment should be for two years and renewable once. The committee will elect its own chair. This committee will have continuing responsibility for overseeing the continued development of the core curriculum, amending the lists of approved courses, and establishing and then certifying the standards of the courses that are admitted to the core. A major task of the first committee will be to determine a specific mechanism for evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of this new general education core curriculum.

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Sample Curricula

Sample Curriculum for Students in Liberal Arts or Science (B.A.)

The School of Science Purdue degrees are 124 credit hours. The Geology Department and the School of Liberal Arts IU degrees are 122 credit hours. To graduate in four years a student in Science, except for Geology, generally must take four semesters of 15 credits and four semesters of 16 credits. To graduate in four years a student in Geology or Liberal Arts may take one semester with two credits less. When figuring total credits hours do not take the lower or higher credit hour numbers given without considering the total for the semester and the balance over four years.

1. Liberal Arts students could put this off until later. Science students could use this requirement to take prerequisite science courses outside the major.
2. Many high school students already may have fulfilled much of their foreign language requirement in high school and can test out of some or this entire requirement. Foreign language programs currently offer placement tests.
3. Higher level courses may be substituted for the two courses listed. Biology and Geology B.A. majors may substitute Math 153/154.
   
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Sample Curriculum for Students in Science Bachelor of Science Degree

The School of Science Purdue degrees are 124 credit hours. The Geology Department and the School of Liberal Arts IU degrees are 122 credit hours. To graduate in four years a student in Science, except for Geology, generally must take four semesters of 15 credits and four semesters of 16 credits. To graduate in four years a student in Geology or Liberal Arts may take one semester with two credits less. When figuring total credits hours do not take the lower or higher credit hour numbers given without considering the total for the semester and the balance over four years.

1. Biology and Geology B.A. majors may substitute Math 153/154.
   
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Sample Curriculum for Students in Biology Bachelor of Science Degree

This sample curriculum is included because this program has a highly developmental structure with many sequenced science courses. The major has 40 credit hours.The School of Science Purdue degrees are 124 credit hours. The Geology Department and the School of Liberal Arts IU degrees are 122 credit hours. To graduate in four years a student in Science, except for Geology, generally must take four semesters of 15 credits and four semesters of 16 credits. To graduate in four years a student in Geology or Liberal Arts may take one semester with two credits less. When figuring total credits hours do not take the lower or higher credit hour numbers given without considering the total for the semester and the balance over four years.

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Some Specific Benefits of a Common Core Curriculum

Beyond encouraging double majors, there are substantial benefits to the common core curriculum offered here. One such benefit is the ability to offer new courses that require substantial resources that would otherwise be beyond the reach of a single school. Another substantial benefit is that the combined influence of the two schools is greater than that of either school acting alone. During the deliberations CLAS carried out over the English requirement in this curriculum the committee worked with the English Department to revise the W132 Composition course. Only the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science require this course. It was revised from a course on argumentation and the research paper to a course on basic academic writing, a revision possible because of the combined influence and cooperation of faculty from both schools. Another benefit from a common curriculum is enhanced coordination. For example, currently three courses common to both the SLA and SOS curricula have sections on logic: Math 118, Speech R100, and English Composition W131. No one is checking whether these sets of logic lessons discuss the same topics or even present the material in contradictory fashion. A common core is a compelling reason to take a new look at such situations wherever they occur.

Another benefit to having a common core curriculum in the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science is that it permits students to earn degrees in the two schools at close to the cost in time and effort of double-majoring in one school. The committee sees this articulation as an advantage to students. The ability of students to earn two majors across the two schools is important because at many universities the most able students often distinguish themselves to potential employers through a double major. Under our current curricula (Spring 1998) it is impossible to earn two majors across the two Schools in even five years.

For the Schools of Liberal Arts and Science, this curriculum should establish a stronger identity for the IUPUI campus, raise general education standards, and improve both the reputations of the schools and of the campus. One of the strongest initiatives in the curriculum is to improve student writing. This curriculum includes a framework comprised of the first year experience and capstone and an interdisciplinary, collaborative junior/senior integrator course. It will take time to develop a list of integrator courses. Therefore students will be allowed to substitute courses from the other lists under Approaches to Knowledge. CLAS urges the schools to move ahead with developing these courses and to experiment with the format before implementing this requirement fully.

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Description of A Principled Curriculum

A Curriculum Based on the Principles of Undergraduate Education

The CLAS curriculum can be better understood in the context of curricular changes occurring nationally. Since the 1960s the number of required courses in Arts and Science curricula has decreased and the courses to be chosen from lists has increased. The trend was away from a commonality of student experiences and away from a developmental structure in the curriculum. Neither the School of Liberal Arts nor the School of Science ever adopted a highly open curriculum. Nationally the pendulum in curriculum planning has begun to swing toward more required courses. The CLAS curriculum is not at the forefront of this swing but it rides with the swing towards more structure.

This basic direction for the curriculum was hotly debated within CLAS when the committee began its deliberations. Some members took the view that we should be specifying particular competencies and allow any combination of courses that achieved those competencies. This view was rejected because it is so difficult to test for a set of specific competencies across many dozens or hundreds of courses. Secondly, CLAS was convinced that a commonality of experiences could have significant payoffs. Having almost every student share the experiences of the speech course, the two composition courses, the History of Western Civilization, the two mathematics courses, the Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences and the Junior/Senior Integrator course meant that these shared experiences would unify the Arts and Science education at IUPUI.The single strongest emphasis in the CLAS curriculum is on writing. We are convinced that writing improves with more writing. The whole curriculum, from the freshman experience and the first composition class at the beginning to the Junior/Senior Integrator and Capstone Experience at the end, is designed to make this happen.

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Relationship of the Curriculum to the Principles of Undergraduate Education

The first task of CLAS was to present a set of general education principles to the faculty of the two schools. These principles were drafted and, after revision and discussion, were passed, first by a joint committee for curriculum from the two schools, and then by each faculty governing body. The Principles of Undergraduate Education passed by the schools are in Appendix B and the current set of five principles is listed at the beginning of this document. The curriculum presented here is rooted in these principles. It is a general education curriculum. However, CLAS emphasizes that the principles of general education should come to life across the entire curriculum, including in the major. Thus the proposed curriculum does not downplay the major or define students simply in terms of their general education.

The curriculum is more fully described below. Each element of the curriculum is briefly related to one or more of the five principles listed in the beginning of this document.

Principles that are addressed primarily by the requirement may be found in the box preceding the description of the requirement.

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Framework of the Basic Core

First-Year Experience (1 - 3 credits)

Principle 1 Communication and Core Skills
Principle 2 Analytical Thinking
Knowledge of Ethics and Values

This course should be required for all first semester freshmen and transfer students (with fewer than 18 credit hours) in the Schools of Liberal Arts and Science. Full-time faculty working in instructional teams should teach it. It should include an integrative overview of the sciences and humanities, present such basic tools/skills as an introduction to academic applications of technology, and should provide skills to aid students in dealing with university life and life at IUPUI in particular. It should culminate in a substantive project. In particular it should address the general education principle concerning values and ethics by teaching an attitude that includes responsibility for learning and personal/professional integrity.

A department-developed orientation course similar to what is being proposed will be accepted in place of the First Year Experience. Such courses already exist in some units and several schools are either developing or piloting First-Year Experience courses. This course is required in the School of Science as of Fall 1997.

Junior/Senior Integrator (3 credits)

Principle 2 Analytical Thinking
Principle 3 Intellectual Depth, Breadth, and Adaptiveness
Principle 4 - Integration of Knowledge

This course is from a list of Integrator courses. It may be substituted if enough courses are not available to meet student demand. Should insufficient Integrator courses be available to meet student demand, students may, with permission of a student's major department, register for one additional course from the Humanities/Social Science/Comparative World Cultures lists or from the Sciences. A student who must substitute for an Integrator course must register for a course outside of her/his area. A student in the humanities must register for a course in the Social Sciences or the Sciences. A student in Science must register for a course in the Humanities or Social Sciences. A student in the Social must register for a course in the Humanities or the Sciences.

This course addresses the integration of knowledge in the Principles of Undergraduate Education. It must be taught by at least two faculty from at least two of the three areas of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Sciences. It generally should be taken in the junior or senior year. It will be designed to demonstrate that the Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Natural Sciences are interrelated and interdependent. It will examine the philosophical relationships among science and the arts and humanities that involve the interplay of science, politics and social policy as well as the crucial interplay among science and technology and the social order and political decisions.

The Natural Sciences never stand apart from the social and cultural context in which they are practiced. They are both conditions of and are conditioned by society and culture. Knowledge of the natural world is not the only path to knowledge, but is the one that is best able to deal specifically with questions about the structure and function of the physical world. There are, however, metaphysical questions natural sciences cannot answer such as the origin, nature and purpose of the universe, the meaning of human existence, and the relationship between mind and matter. These questions most often are manifested in the relationships among natural science and religion and philosophy. Less philosophical relationships between science and the arts and humanities involve the interplay of science, politics and social policy. Examples include: (1) Mapping of the human genome will identify base sequences of DNA associated with the risk of certain human diseases. How will (or should) this knowledge be used by the insurance industry, or by potential employers? (2) Science is expensive, whether it is basic research or medical application. How does cost benefit ratio affect investment in science during flush and lean times? (3) There is also a partial dependency on science and technology of the growth of a modern society and the power of political ideas. These in turn have their down sides. How do we balance them? History is replete with examples of the crucial interplay between science and technology and the social order and politica l decisions. It is imperative that science be studied in a wider context with the arts and humanities, as part of a total experience.

As with the Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences the Junior/Senior Integrator course is a single course offered to all Science and Liberal Arts majors. The discussion above about the daunting nature of offering such a course applies here as well. This course, again, is well worth the effort and should be the showpiece of the new curriculum. It will take the combined efforts of our most talented, creative, and dedicated instructors to make it a success. If properly done it will be a course that our students will remember for the rest of their lives. Setting the level of the course to the junior or senior year as well as having the prerequisites of two composition courses and writing-intensive courses in humanities, social science, and western civilization will allow the instructors to set a high level in terms of writing and critical thinking for the Junior/Senior Integrator.

This integrator course will be drawn from a list of courses that satisfy the above description of integrating the social sciences, the humanities and the sciences. It could be offered as a variable title course. Either case would allow a flowering of possibilities and foster collaborative efforts among schools across campus to develop such courses. This approach would relieve the problem of offering a single course to all students. As an illustrative example, a team of faculty might develop a course called "Risk as a Way of Life". This course would deal with the risks to human life from causes as varied as environmental hazards, nuclear accidents, airplane travel, road accidents, workplace accidents, and behaviors that damage health. The natural science questions would include estimates of the magnitudes of environmental biological hazards and the effects of behaviors such as smoking on the probability of death. Students could consider the extent to which biological hazards are man-made or natural. The magnitudes of these risks could be estimated from health statistics or from animal dosage-response models. Students would consider social science questions addressing public Policy such as fines, taxes, education, direct regulation, and how cleaning of hazardous sites affect behavior, reduce these risks, and at what costs. Students would consider humanities questions such as: should behaviors that raise one individual's risk but not that of others, such as sky diving, be regulated?; should society trade the lives of some individuals in return for the greater safety of others? (One such trade, for example, would be the reduction in the power of car airbags leading to an estimated 200 additional adult deaths per year at a saving of 50 child deaths.); do some religions encourage a fatalistic outlook that causes a greater acceptance of risk?; is the notion of progress in human affairs and the expectation of lower and lower levels of risk a western concept?; should risks be based on gender roles or be gender neutral? (For example, should women be subject to a draft and not dismissed from combat for pregnancy). As this example illustrates, this course will be designed to allow students to apply the perspective of their major on a broad topic of contemporary significance that lends itself to a multidisciplinary investigation.

The Junior/Senior Integrator, as other required courses in this curriculum, must contain a substantial writing component. Students must have at least junior standing to enroll in the course and have completed their two semesters of composition, their two mathematics courses, an introductory course in their intended major, the History of Western Civilization H114, and at least two courses from the Approaches to Knowledge list. It must be taught by at least two faculty from at least two of the three areas of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Sciences. CLAS suggests that specific Junior/Senior Integrator courses be approved by the new Core Curriculum Committee or, perhaps, by a different committee set up for this purpose only.

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Capstone Experience (1 - 3 credits)

Principle 4 - Integration of Knowledge
Knowledge of Ethics and ValuesThis course addresses the integration of knowledge in the Principles of Undergraduate Education as well as values and ethics as they relate to the student's major. It would generally be taken in the senior year in the major. Some departments may also allow experiences outside the major that integrate knowledge from other disciplines. A campus-wide Capstone Experience Course also could be allowed to fulfill this requirement by some departments. However, we expect that almost all Capstone Experiences will be within the major. The Capstone may be an independent, creative effort of the student that is integrative and builds on the student's previous work in the major and may include research projects, independent study and projects, a practicum, a seminar, or a field experience. Such an experience should provide the student with an overview of his or her own discipline and/or with different perspectives on his or her own discipline as it is considered from the different points of view of other disciplines. The Capstone Experience should be designed to teach students that their education is simply one step in what should be life long learning and that the complicated issues in life are best viewed from a multidisciplinary perspective. Some departments in both schools already require a Capstone Experience. The School of Science will require a Capstone Experience for all majors in Fall 1997.By including the capstone in the general education curriculum, the schools will ensure some commonality of experience for all students. The criteria described above must be met before a discipline-specific capstone experience will count toward this general education requirement.

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Core Communication Skills

Principle 1 - Communication and Core Skills
Principle 2 ­ Analytical ThinkingCommunication requirements address several Principles of Undergraduate Education, most notably the first principle involving reading, writing, speaking, and listening, but also the second principle requiring competence in reasoning clearly, including thinking logically and critically.

Written Communication

Two English Composition courses (6 credits) are required including W131 (Elementary Composition 1) and a second writing course. W131 is designed to teach students elementary writing composition and basic elements of general written communication.

A second course in writing will be required. This course may be any writing course which requires W131 as a prerequisite and which has the following goals:

• to introduce students to a range of types of academic writing
• to improve students' skills in a variety of types of academic writing
• to continue to improve basic writing skills and clarity of expression
• to improve skills in critical analysis of written materials that are at an intellectual and technical level appropriate to the students' levels of expertise.
• to improve skills in planning and organizing written texts
• to develop general skills in identifying and using library material

The focus of the second required composition course should be on preparing students for writing assignments in the remaining college courses. Since the English Department is committed to revising W132 to meet the goals of the requirement listed above it will likely remain the primary choice to fulfill this requirement. However, many students now wait until the last semester of their senior year before taking the W132 course. For these students any benefit on how to write more effectively in their laterundergraduate courses is lost. Making this second writing course a prerequisite for the writing-intensive approaches to knowledge courses should alleviate this problem.

Oral Communication

Communications R110 (Fundamentals of Speech) (3 credits) will be required. The beginning public speaking course provides theory and practice of public speaking, training in how to organize speech content for informative and persuasive situations and the application of language and delivery skills to specific audiences. Students are required to deliver six speeches and to develop complete sentence outlines for five of the speeches. The course is based on theories of communication, which develop the integral and ethical relationship of the speaker to the audience.

Among other things, the students learn about barriers to communication, types of communication, communication apprehension, appropriate differences between oral and written communication, and effective ways to evaluate oral communication. Although the emphasis, as one would expect, is on speaking and delivery, there are substantive writing assignments. These include preparation of written critiques of outside-of-class speakers, written responses to peer presentations, and detailed outlines, in the margin of which students have to identify various parts of the speech (Introduction, Body, and Conclusion, and all transitions), as well as of types of reasoning and evidence used as appropriate to the assignment. Students learn to analyze audiences, speaking occasions, and environments, to analyze appropriate strategies for communication, to evaluate evidence and sources of evidence, and to structure units of support built on valid assertions and effective reasoning. Students are required to do audience surveys and, based on the surveys, select appropriate subjects and modes of presentation, and adapt them to the specific audiences. Students are required to speak on a variety of subjects with different objectives such as to convince the audience that a problem exists and to persuade the audience that there is an effective and possible solution to the problem. They may demonstrate how to do something, using electronic media or three-dimensional visual aids or they may simply inform the audience on a particular aspect of a subject.

Writing Throughout the Curriculum

The third element of the communications recommendation for this curriculum is that there be a strong writing component in every appropriate course. One commonly would expect an introductory film studies course, an introductory literature course, a History of Western Civilization course, a U.S. History course and many science courses at IUPUI to require short essays and longer papers. On the other hand a writing requirement in a mathematics course or some computer science courses requiring software programming may not be appropriate and therefore would not be expected. Nevertheless, even subject areas such as mathematics where writing has traditionally not been stressed should be encouraged to incorporate more where appropriate. Solid competence in writing cannot be taught in two composition courses but must be reinforced throughout the curriculum. Writing not only demonstrates a skill but also facilitates learning. Writing assignments should meet two basic criteria: (1) they should be constructed so that students have ample opportunity to enhance their writing skills, and (2) they should emphasize the development of critical thinking skills through the synthesis and integration of key concepts and issues. Student competence in writing ultimately will be assessed within the major as the student learns to write in his or her own discipline. Thus this particular recommendation is not an item that will normally be checked off as having been fulfilled for graduation. The faculty must meet the challenge of increasing the amount of writing students are required to do to assure competence in written communication. To assist in this process the Office of Campus Writing will be offering faculty development sessions throughout the academic year in writing across the curriculum. Also, many of the courses approved for the core curriculum will have to satisfy specific minimum writing requirements. These include the integrator courses and the Approaches to Knowledge courses.

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Foreign Language

Principle 1 - Communication and Core Skills

The Committee recommends that all students earning a B.A. degree achieve first-year proficiency in a foreign language (10 credits). This proficiency could be demonstrated by testing or by successfully completing two five-credit courses in the same language or by a combination of taking courses and examination.

First-year college-level proficiency in a modern foreign language means that a student can carry on a conversation in the language, albeit slowly, begin to read newspapers and magazines, and know enough of the grammar and structure of the language to be clear about tenses for standard verbs and the article agreements for nouns. A semester of a college-level language course covers at least twice as much material as high school courses. A student who had recently taken three years of high school language would be likely to place out of the first-year proficiency requirement. The chance of testing out depends on the quality of the high school program and how recently the courses were taken.

The proficiency standards in non-living languages, such as Latin and Ancient Greek, differ from those in modern foreign languages. A student with 10-credit hours should be able to read the full texts of significant ancient works in the original language. At this level students should have a good grasp of basic grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and the cultural context necessary to understand the unaltered ancient text, although they may need to read slowly and rely on a dictionary, a grammar text, and editorial notes to be able to prepare an accurate translation. Evaluation in the non-living languages includes testing of linguistic knowledge accompanied by the translation of selected passages.

Modern foreign language training or training in non-living languages has some serendipitous benefits. Many students gain a firmer grasp of the rules of English grammar when they study the grammar of another language. Simply thinking formally makes students more careful about what they write and helps them see distinctions that previously had appeared opaque. According to Goethe, "Wer keine fremden Sprachen kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen" ("One does not truly know one's own language until one studies a second language"). A second serendipitous benefit of a foreign language requirement is an expanded English vocabulary and greater sensitivity to English usage. English is a gourmand of other languages and the study of most foreign languages is a means of a rapprochement between the student and cosmopolitan English. Although this benefit is hardly the raison d' être for a foreign language requirement, it is a substantial benefit.

To assess whether or not students have achieved the proposed outcomes in the modern foreign languages a validated and effective evaluative tool is already in place at IUPUI. For placement purposes, the Iowa Testing Program (a nationally recognized standard placement test) is administered regularly by the IUPUI Testing Center.

To gauge the impact of the proposed language requirement on majors in the School of Science CLAS asked the IUPUI Office of Institutional Research to look up the high school records of SOS majors to determine how many years of foreign language they had taken. The high school records were checked of all SOS majors enrolled in the Fall of 1996 who had matriculated in the Fall of 1993 or later. The Office of Institutional Research found the high school records for 254 such students. Of these students 22% had four or more years of high school language, 51% had three or more years of high school language, and 86% had two or more years of high school language. Thus a substantial fraction of the School of Science majors would be expected to test out of all or part of the language requirement.

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Core Quantitative Skills

Principle 1 - Communication and Core Skills

The mathematics requirements in the general education curriculum fulfill the principle that our graduates be competent in quantitative reasoning.

Two courses beyond Math 111 of at least 6 credits are required. One of the two courses must have a substantial analytical content. It may be chosen from a list that may include mathematics (beyond the level of Math 111), statistics, and computer and information science courses. Courses in logic or other analytical methods could be added to the list. The Department of Mathematical Sciences has a large National Science Foundation (NSF) grant through the year 2001 to experiment with new courses that combine the teaching of mathematics and other disciplines. Some of these experimental Mathematics-Throughout-the-Curriculum courses will be added to the list. The Department of Mathematical Sciences will nominate specific courses that are suitable for this substitution based on the level of the mathematics and substantial analytical content.

For those students who will not be taking additional mathematics, the two courses most strongly recommended are continuous mathematics/calculus and discrete mathematics. These two are selected so as to give students a fairly broad background. For continuous mathematics the current closest course is M119. Topics in M119 include continuous functions, rates of change, and optimization. For discrete mathematics the course is M118. Topics in M118 include logic, combinatorics, probability, and elementary statistics.

The continuous mathematics course is being revised and the new course will include more humanities and social science examples than the current M119. Math M119 will be sequenced before M118 because this order provides a better transition from high school algebra (or the M111 course that covers the same material) and because the continuous mathematics course is easier than the M118.

The two courses strongly recommended encompass two basic types of mathematical reasoning. The finite mathematics course provides students with tools that can be applied to problems in which discrete events occur such as road accidents per day, or earthquakes per century, or the number of winning lottery tickets in a given number of tickets. The Mathematics Department recently revised the M118 course to place greater emphasis on reasoning skills such as the ability to understand a word/story problem and express it in equations. The mechanical and rote aspects of the course, such as simplex method for solving a system of equations, have been de-emphasized and the more conceptual aspects of finite mathematics such as probability and statistics have been given greater weight. The revised course has a much lower DWF rate than its predecessor and much higher student ratings. Dr. Jeff Watt has supervised this revision. His main aim was to provide students with a better reasoning ability for mathematical problems. Part of the revision was to make the course more relevant by including examples from news stories such as the accuracy of drug tests in the workplace or the probability of acquiring AIDS.

The continuous mathematics/calculus course provides students with tools that can be applied to problems with continuous relationships between variables. The current M119 emphasizes business applications of calculus because at present most of the students are pre-business majors. The revised course will include more humanities and social science examples and it also will shift the emphasis towards reasoning and the application of mathematical tools to realistic problems.

While there are other types of analytical reasoning than calculus, calculus is recommended because it is calculus training that provides a way of thinking that can be used even when the problem is not formulated in mathematical functions or phrased in mathematical terms. Problems that involve optimization with continuous choices are pervasive. They run the gamut from public policy decisions, personal finance questions, business decisions, population dynamics, and agricultural policy to volunteering for charities. The point of the revised calculus class will be to teach students the basics of this method and to help them see how they can really be applied.

Between them, the two recommended courses would provide our students with the mathematical tools necessary to conceptualize almost all of the quantitative reasoning problems they would encounter in their basic social science, natural science and humanities courses. These two courses provide a broad basic foundation in quantitative reasoning beyond the high school level of mathematics. Although other mathematics courses that could be offered to college freshman, such as college-level algebra or trigonometry, are good vehicles for teaching quantitative reasoning, the discrete mathematics and the calculus are recommended because they are the most fundamental applications of quantitative reasoning at the college level.

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Approaches to Knowledge

Courses that represent key approaches to knowledge address the Principles of Undergraduate Education which require that students attain skills in analytical thinking, acquire intellectual depth, breadth, and adaptiveness and have some understanding of society and culture. The courses below will give students the necessary analytical tools to address the difficult questions that will be raised in the Junior/Senior Integrator course and will be prerequisites for that course.

Natural Science

Principle 2 ­ Analytical Thinking: Competence in retrieving and interpreting information and applying the scientific methodThe Committee recommends three natural science courses of more than one credit each. One of the courses must have an associated laboratory of one or two credits. The courses and laboratory must total a minimum of eight hours.Knowledge of natural science is important because the natural sciences teach how to formulate questions and hypotheses, how to design experiments which isolate variables, how to record data, to interpret data and make correlations, and to draw conclusions. The scientific method is one of the primary ways of knowing and allows one to distinguish reality from speculation. Science develops the ability to reason logically, and to observe and manipulate the natural world. It helps one to understand the technological advances upon which society depends. The CLAS Committee thinks the laboratory component is important for students to understand how science is done, to know how experiments are carried out and generally how scientists probe the world.

Introduction to the College-level Natural Sciences (3 credits)

An Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences, an integrator course in the sciences (3 credits) may be substituted for one of the natural science courses and is strongly recommended. This course generally would be taken in the first or second semester of the freshman year. It would be designed to provide general scientific knowledge across multiple natural science disciplines and to demonstrate that the natural sciences are connected and interdependent, i.e. integrated in scope and application.

The natural world can be viewed as a series of structural levels of increasing complexity, from the subatomic particles that form atoms to the complex structures and behaviors of biological organisms. Each level has its own unique properties which, according to the predominant reductionist view in science, emerge (but are not always predictable) from the properties of the level below. And it is the integrated application of knowledge gained from the different levels that is required for understanding of phenomena and for new discovery.

For example, elucidation of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953 came about as a result of integrating knowledge of structure and function at the biological, chemical, and physical levels gained over a prior period of nearly 100 years. Likewise, understanding changes in the structure of the earth across time or distance, the subjects of geology and physical geography, respectively, depends on the integration of knowledge of elementary physical, chemical, and biological actions.

The study of the natural sciences as an integrated whole, rather than as isolated disciplines will help students to gain a more global, realistic, and essential view of the world as it actually exists and functions, and thus to better appreciate the unity of science in all its diversity.The Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences would not need to be an entirely new course. One possible plan is to utilize a successful textbook, The Sciences: An Integrated Approach by James Trefil and Robert M. Hazen (John Wiley and Sons, 1995), that has a full set of ancillaries. This text teaches the connections among the natural sciences that natural science majors do not learn in the present curriculum.

This course is currently not being required. However CLAS strongly urges faculty to begin developing an integrative introductory science course which can be substituted for one of the three natural science courses that are required. CLAS believes that this course would be a particularly valuable natural science course for Liberal Arts majors because it would provide a more comprehensive view of the natural sciences than the current requirement. It strongly recommends that all students in both schools use such a course. It is hoped that this course will eventually become a requirement.

The reason for placing this course in the freshman year is that this is when the training in science of the School of Science and Liberal Arts majors is most similar. At this point both groups of students primarily retain their knowledge of high school science courses. An integrative course for the natural sciences for both science and liberal arts majors would be much more difficult to organize in later years of college.

Finally, an argument can be made that School of Science students achieve an integrative view of science once they complete their degree and thus do not need such an approach. However, The Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences will provide students with an integrative approach early in their scientific training which will demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving, encourage more collaborative approaches to learning and ultimately provide a clearer understanding of the basic natural sciences.

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History of Western Civilization (H114) (3 credits)

Principle 5 Understanding Society and Culture: knowledge of the similarities and differences among world cultures, including one's own, both past and present

The Committee recommends that students be required to take the History of Western Civilization H114. This course provides a historical framework for western thought and helps students put their own experience into a broader historical and cultural context. This requirement addresses the Principle of Undergraduate Learning, UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY AND CULTURE, specifically the requirement that students acquire a knowledge of the similarities and differences among world cultures, including their own, both past and present.

The Western Civilization course, H114, offered by the History Department ranges broadly across human experience and encourages students to try to understand diverse societies and cultures. History is an interpretation of the past based on research and analysis of surviving evidence. As with most other disciplines, the subjects that historians are interested in, the questions that they ask, and the sources that they use are influenced by the culture in which they live. Historians follow rules of evidence, but as with other disciplines, they make sense out of the past through the prism of their own culture; the value of history is the meaning that it has for the present and not in some immutable, unchanging, uninterpreted truth.

The content of H114 clearly has been influenced by the "new" social history, with its inclusion of the ordinary and everyday aspects of people's lives. Texts and lectures layer a newer emphasis on diversity and race, class, and gender along with the older interest in political, economic, and military history.

Instructors in H114 endeavor to break down common misconceptions about the nature of history to encourage analytical thinking. Many students come to history surveys believing that history is the memorization of dates and facts or a quest for a fixed, unchanging, and absolute truth. History is based on scientific methods in that historians use evidence gained through research to answer questions or test hypotheses. Skills routinely stressed and tested (largely through essay exams) include analytical thinking and interpretation, as opposed to memorization and regurgitation of information. Instructors expect students to be able to process information from lectures, readings, and discussions, to reason clearly, and to think logically and critically.

Studying and understanding the past in its own context and developing an appreciation for links between past and present encourages and requires intellectual breadth and adaptiveness. So, too, does the ability to study the past without judging it against our values and expecting those who came before us to behave as if they should have known what we know and believed as we believe. History offers an extension of personal experience across time and space. Instructors (nearly all of whom are either bilingual or trilingual) try to help students see the world through the eyes of a diversity of people who lived in the past. At the same time, past, present, and future are not separate domains. The present is a product of the past and what happened in the past also helps to shape the future.

Historians routinely draw upon other disciplines to extend the tools and models that they use to interpret the past. Fields as diverse as demographics and ecology have a tremendous impact on how we understand and explain human actions in the past, such as the movement and mixing of peoples and the relationship between people and nature. The knowledge generated in this way informs the content of H114. Archaeological evidence plays an important role in H114.

Several of the survey instructors illustrate their lectures with paintings and drawings, which bring in a comparison with the use of those kinds of sources in art history; others mix a novel in with the monographs that they assign, which gives the students a comparative perspective on the use of literature as a source in different disciplines.

History surveys stress integration of knowledge from diverse sources: lectures, readings, class discussions, other classes, and, when appropriate, life experiences. Surveys also emphasize integration of knowledge of a variety of social and cultural groups in the past.

H114 asks students to appreciate western European and world cultures in the context of their own time, comparatively, and for what they can help us to learn about ourselves. It should almost go without saying that past human interaction with the environment was an important variable in shaping human societies over time. Indeed, the relationship between human beings and their environment is one of those places where the knowledge created by several disciplines informs the history presented in the classroom.

Western civilization courses also ask students to think about the ethics and values of past societies in their own context and to compare them with contemporary systems of values and ethics. Of course, discussions of academic honesty and integrity also invite reflection on values and ethics.

The History of Western Civilization is a course about specifically western ideas such as: western thought on the duties of a citizen; the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of representative government and of different judicial systems; nationalism and nation states as engines of change; ideology as a guiding principle for organizing a state; and how the modern concept of the self differ from the ancient or the medieval concept. Western history provides the framework or the canvass on which these broad ideas can be discussed. The reason that these discussions help students put their own experience into a broader historical and cultural context is that the institutions and the customs that the students have experienced (the university, the legislature, and the courts) are western in origin. It is important to remember, however, that while this particular course addresses, for the most part, western civilization, a second course about comparative world cultures also is required.

The School of Liberal Arts requires both H113 and H114 of their majors. The School of Science requires neither but does list both courses as possible ways to fulfill liberal arts requirements within a list of courses. Requiring only one of these two courses in no way precludes Liberal Arts from retaining its requirement for both courses.

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Completing the Approaches to Knowledge (9 credits)

To complete the approaches to knowledge the Committee recommends one course from a Humanities list AND one from a Social Science list AND one course from a Comparative World Cultures course list. These three courses will serve as prerequisites for the Junior/Senior Integrator.

Three lists of courses will be proposed by the Core Curriculum Committee. To be included on any of these lists a course must include a substantial writing component. A course may be included on the Comparative World Cultures course list if it deals with culture in a comparative and conceptual manner and includes a reading list offering multiple choices.

The Humanities Course List would address the principles while providing an understanding of the arts and humanities as a way to increase the breadth and depth of knowledge in these areas. Disciplines that would logically provide courses for this list may include (as examples and without meaning to exclude other possibilities) Philosophy, Religious Studies, Communication Studies, and Literature (English or Foreign Language). Note that this list is partial. The Social Science Course List would address the principles as it addresses an understanding of history and civilization with a view to increasing the breadth and depth of knowledge in these areas. Disciplines that would logically provide courses for this list could include Anthropology, Geography, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Again this list is not exhaustive. Courses could be cross-listed on any list if the course fits the list description. For example, the Comparative World Cultures Course list could include an anthropology course on world cultures also on the social science list or the Religion as a Window on Culture course from the humanities list. Courses that meet the requirements for the Approaches to Knowledge from the Herron School of Art or the I.U. School of Music in Indianapolis could be added to these lists.

Ethics and Values and Aesthetics

Ethics and values and aesthetics are addressed in the Principles of Undergraduate Education. Faculty should encourage students to examine ethical concepts and values critically in contexts appropriate to courses or to disciplines. At least one session of the First-Year Experience should be devoted to issues of student ethics and values as related to functioning in a scholarly community. Professional ethics and values associated with a discipline ought to be presented in a deliberate way throughout the major. Ethics and values must be addressed in the Capstone Experience, and could be further explained in a formal course, and in service learning opportunities. Like writing, ethics and values are skills or attitudes to be developed throughout the student's educational experience. They are not skills to be checked off as fulfilling a graduation requirement. The faculty must meet the challenge to encourage students to grow as ethical and principled human beings in their short stay at IUPUI.

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Conclusions

If a core curriculum is adopted by the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science, a student's curriculum at IUPUI will consist of three major components: a Common Core Curriculum, School-Specific Requirements, and Major Requirements. The Schools and Departments will provide the latter two components, but the first component will provide a common experience, unique to IUPUI, to students from both schools. This curriculum is designed to be sequential and developmental. Students move progressively through the stages of the curriculum in the following order:

• First-Year Experience
• Introduction to College-Level Natural Sciences
• Approaches to Knowledge
• Junior/Senior Integrator
• Capstone Experience

Each step prepares for the next and, with the major, provides a rich set of experiences that should serve our students well.

Acknowledgments

The Council of Liberal Arts and Science gratefully acknowledges the many faculty and administrators who thoughtfully contributed to the development of this curriculum. All the Chairs and Program Directors deserve special thanks for informing the committee of their programs. We are especially grateful to our colleagues who responded to the original curriculum proposal. Their comments helped us think through changes in this current document and contributed immeasurably to the refinement of our explanations and justifications. Of special help were the following:

Steve Fox, Department of English
Christine Jakacky, University College
Miriam Langsam, School of Liberal Arts
Bart Ng, Department of Mathematics
William Plater, Dean of Faculties
Richard Turner, Department of English
Jeff Watt, Department of Mathematics
Anne Williams, Department of English
The Student Mentors of University College

Appendix A

COUNCIL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCE ~ MEMBERS 1994 - 1998

Appendix B

School of Liberal Arts Standards and Policies Committee 1997-98

Paul Carlin, Chair (Economics)
Catherine Dobris (Communications)
Susanmarie Harrington (English)
Obioma Nnaemeka (Foreign Languages and Cultures and Women's Studies)
Christian Kloesel (English)Ex-officio from Agenda Council: Didier Bertrand (Foreign Languages and Cultures)
SLA Administration: Barbara Jackson (Anthropology)

School of Science Educational Policy Committee 1997-98

Joan Lauer, Chair (Psychology)
Florence Juillerat (Biology)
Dick Wyma (Chemistry)
Andrew Olson (Computer Science)
Pascal de Caprariis (Geology)
Richard Tam (Mathematics)
Robert Perlstein (Physics)

SOS Administration: Joseph Kuczkowski (Mathematics)