3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Today's complex global issues, such as health, energy, or education, cannot be understood nor addressed from a single perspective or specialty. And yet too often, we are guided only by our own sets of assumptions and can lose track of what other areas of expertise embrace, value, and even achieve. Developing an interdisciplinary outlook is therefore crucial to helping students develop the skills that will enable them to lead future generations towards a better understanding of humankind and what it needs. In this First-Year Seminar, we will open a dialogue between disciplines in the sciences and in the humanities. Each class will be set up as a forum for discussion, bringing in specialists from a range of different disciplines, including Biology, Music, Mathematics, Literature, Public Health, and more. Together we will examine key word concepts from multiple perspectives, such as “time,” “image,” “money”, “positive,” “breaking point” and additional concepts determined by students. To support our examinations, we will read excerpts of works by scientific thinkers (Stephen Jay Gould, John Dewey, Paul Feyerabend, Albert Einstein, Bill Nye), fictional authors (Melville, Harper Lee, Shakespeare), films (Playtime, Gattaca, Interstellar) and documentaries (Brooklyn Bridge, Eiffel, Panama Canal). In addition to class discussions, we will pursue our investigations in other settings around the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area, such as the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Peabody Library, The Evergreen Museum, the Museum of Industry, and the Smithsonian. Here too, students will be encouraged to come up with their own suggestions. At the conclusion of the this First-Year Seminar, students will have learned to depart from conventional patterns of reasoning tied to specific areas of study and develop “out of the box” critical thinking skills to face our challenging, and continually changing, modern world.