Core Curriculum

Themed Explorations

Themed Explorations Overview and Learning Outcomes

Themed Explorations (TEs) are an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to choose a topic that they can explore in considerable depth from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, through a three-course sequence.

To ensure that a student’s choice of courses span disciplinary boundaries and include varied perspectives, students should not choose a theme that overlaps with their discipline and must choose courses with different course prefixes. In majors closely related to a theme, students will be directed to an alternate choice (by advising and the degree audit process) to encourage breadth.

One of the courses must provide global perspectives related to the topic.

Learning Outcomes (revised December 6, 2021)
1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how diverse worldviews, experiences, and power structures impact the theme under study.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how disciplinary perspectives result in a variety of ways of knowing that increase understanding of any theme under study.
3. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how interdisciplinary ways of knowing can help to develop effective problem-solving strategies.

  • TE: Creativity

    After critical thinking comes creative action. In this theme, we look at creative action through the Creative lens. These three-course address creative action from different perspectives. Where does creativity come from? How do we create? How do we use creativity in service to others?

    This theme is designed to immerse a student in ideas about creativity and the creative process as a means of cultural and self-exploration. The courses will cover a Global/Cultural perspective wherein students will tackle questions about how politics, economics, and society are an effect on a culture’s creative impulse; a Leadership in Service component that will enable students to experience an artistic endeavor in relationship to their community; and an introduction to creativity whereby a student will actively participate in creation through a choice of medium.

    The Creativity theme will encourage students to utilize creative thinking in both their everyday lives and their chosen discipline as a way to enhance their intellect, joy, and relationship with others.

    Approved Courses

    Learning Outcomes
    1. Students will demonstrate awareness of historical and cultural practices related to the creative process across disciplines.
    2. Students will demonstrate creative problem-solving strategies in service to others.
    3. Students will demonstrate through creative and analytical projects their ability to conceptualize new visions of the world around them.
    4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the creative process as a source of resilience and personal expression.

  • TE: Social Justice

    The Social Justice themed exploration will utilize at least three disciplinary lens to examine social inequality and injustice. In this proposal we are introducing literary, sociological, and religious studies approaches, but we anticipate that other approaches will be submitted for this themed exploration. The three submitted courses (primarily) focus on four main types of inequality/injustice: religion, social class, gender, and sexual orientation. All of these courses also include some attention to other types of inequality/injustice (e.g., based on race). All of these courses offer depth, by focusing on LGBTQ experiences expressed in literature, barriers to and strategies to improve interfaith understanding, and causes and consequences inequality based income, wealth, and power. Collectively, courses in this themed exploration will provide integrative understanding because they all cover evidence of, causes of, consequences of, and strategies to reduce social inequality and injustice. The ultimate goal of this themed exploration is provision of information to enable students to better understand social inequality and injustice, which can inform actions to create a more socially just world.

    Approved Courses

    Learning Outcomes
    1. Students will be able to describe evidence of social inequality and injustice in the United States and/or other parts of the world based on ability, age, economic class, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and/or nation.
    2. Students will be able to describe privileges experienced by those from more powerful social categories, as well as harmful consequences of inequality and injustice experienced by those from social categories with less power.
    3. Students will be able to explain causes of social inequality and injustice at all three of these levels: (a) individual attitudes and behaviors; (b) cultural ideas and representations; and (c) institutional/organizational practices and structures.
    4. Students will be able to describe strategies for reducing social inequality and injustice.

  • TE: Health and Wellness in Society

    By exploring this topic of Health and Wellness in Society from three perspectives, students will have opportunities for critical reflection in multiple areas of wellness, including spiritual health, intellectual health, physical health, intrapersonal health and interpersonal health. Students will investigate their own health and wellness knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, and will practice skills that will help them develop a healthier lifestyle. Students will also critically analyze the various forces that influence and impact health and wellness.

    Approved Courses

    Learning Outcomes
    1. Describe the complex forces (biological, cultural, structural, and/or spiritual and ethical) that impact wellness and health (physical, mental, and/or emotional).
    2. Evaluate the impact of various influences (e.g. personal attitudes, family systems, values, social environment and culture, behavior and knowledge) on health and wellness.
    3. Analyze the influence of politics, media, empirical literature, and/or socioeconomics on health and wellness.
    4. Use interdisciplinary perspective to develop effective strategies to analyze health and wellness at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of society.

  • TE: Study Abroad

    The Study Abroad Themed Exploration is an opportunity for students to study a range of topics within an international context. Through an approved semester-long study abroad program (as determined by the college's international office staff), students will study the people, culture, and land of an international location during their semester abroad. Students will critically reflect on their own global and leadership experiences abroad.

    This Themed Exploration is defined by its emphasis on students' study abroad experience. The learning outcomes of this Themed Exploration are broad, in order to accommodate the variety of ways students will fulfill the three-course sequence.

    Learning Outcomes
    1. Experience the cultural nuances that define their international context.
    2. Understand the impact of various influences (for example: personal attitudes, family systems, values, social environment and culture, behavior and knowledge) within another culture.
    3. Use interdisciplinary skills to analyze the influence of politics, media, empirical literature, and/or socioeconomics within an international context.

    The requirements for a study abroad program to count as a TE should be flexible. The coursework that students choose will be interdisciplinary and the work of being immersed in another culture, abroad, will address the global learning outcomes of TEs.

TE Pilot: Preparing Teachers for a Global Society

*NB: this Themed Exploration is ONLY for some, approved Education programs. As approved by the 2019-20 Core Curriculum Committee, it is a 4-yr pilot that begins in Fall 2020.

The preparation of teachers requires teacher candidates (our students) to develop the skills and knowledge to be successful teaching in an ever increasing global society. This includes preparing teacher candidates to be able to identify cultural differences, biases, societal challenges, misconceptions, problems; and create and maintain safe learning environments, including digital learning, that value diversity.

By examining the preparation of teachers for a global society from different angles, our teacher candidates will better understand the importance of becoming culturally competent educators.

Approved Courses

Learning Outcomes
1. Students will be able to identify various facets of culture by examining cultural differences, misconceptions and biases, and begin developing the skills required for culturally competent professional practice.
2. Students will be able to identify interdisciplinary ways of understanding how teachers can approach various societal challenges, problems, and/or misconceptions.
3. Students will be able to create and maintain safe learning environments that values diversity of every form, motivates students to take academic risks, and challenge themselves and others.