Edith Balbach (community health)
A revision of Community Health 101 is designed to help students to think critically about the course material including what is “poor health” and what is a community? It incorporates a simulation, “AIDS Policy for Our Town.”

Francie Chew (biology)
A revision of Biology 71, Population and Community Ecology, co-taught with Colin Orians, is incorporates activities designed to enable students to read primary literature critically and to develop a specific research proposal for experimental work on an ecological question.

Tomie Hahn (music)
Music 2, Introduction to World Music has been revised to expand students cross-cultural listening skills; to strengthen their ability to describe what they hear; and to discuss the philosophy of aesthetic across cultures. The class culminates in a series of live performances created by the students.

Soha Hassoun (electrical engineering)
A problem solving workshop, attached to EE 103, Introduction to VLSI Design augments class time with five voluntary mini-workshops that aim to increase students' awareness of critical thinking and problem solving techniques.

Sibyl Johnston (Creative Writing-English)
Revising Fiction, an advanced fiction writing course will apply critical thinking to the creative writing process and will involve students’ close examination of previously written short stories or novel excerpts, defining and applying critical standards in a workshop setting.

Jonathan Kenny (Chemistry)
Critical Thinking in General Chemistry Courses for Scientists and Non-scientists explores how to teach general chemistry, from an environmental perspective. The goals are to create a more engaging introduction to the field, and teach students the kinds of thinking that are crucial to doing science - the use of metaphor, the construction of models and hypotheses, the testing of hypotheses, inductive versus deductive reasoning.

Keith Maddox (psychology)
A revision Experimental Social Psychology will incorporate the teaching of thinking skills involved in designing, conducting, and presenting an original research project. Emphasis will be placed on the critical examination of theories and empirical research.

Daniel Mulholland (History)
A new seminar, Foundation Seminar in History, Europe’s Great War, 1914-1919, will introduce the fundamentals of history: historiography, theory, research methods, and forms of historical writing. Students will be introduced to various kinds of historical thinking, including conventional political and social, gender studies, and feminist theory.

Julie Solomon (French)
In The Twentieth Century Roman Engagé, students consider the ways in which novels may communicate political ideas and readings of history. The course encourages critical analysis of arguments advanced in literary texts, and students' use of critical thinking skills to make strong arguments about the texts studied.

Judy Staicer (Drama)
A revision of Drama 18, Stage Lighting Design includes the explicit teaching of the various tools students need to think critically about their own work, the methodologies for the study of plays, and the accompanying research.

Joseph Walser (religion)
Comparative Religion 1, Introduction to Religions is revised to meets students’ needs for critical thinking skills and a theoretical background for the study of religion. Three religions will be looked at from the perspective of various methodological approaches.

Steve Zemba (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Civil and Environmental Engineering 136, Air Pollution will be augmented with a problem solving workshop, the goal of which is to apply critical and creative thinking skills to engineering problem solving.

Past Program Participants:

2007  |  2006  |  2005  |  2004  |  2003  |  2002  |  2001  |  2000  |  1999

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