St. Cloud State University
General Education Goal Area 5
History and the Social & Behavioral Sciences
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date:
Effective Date:
1.
Prepared by: Robert Lavenda
Phone: 8-3034
Proposal Number:
Email: lavenda@stcloudstate.edu
2.
Requesting Unit: Sociology and Anthropology
3.
Department, Course Number, Title: ANTH 101, I ntroduction to Anthropology
4.
New Course
5.
Will this course be flagged as a diversity course?
Already Designated as Diversity
6.
Will this course also satisfy another General Education Goal Area?
If “Yes” specify which goal area.
8
Existing Course
No
Diversity Proposal Accompanying This Form
No
Yes
7.
Course bulletin description, including credits and semesters to be offered:
ANTH 101. Introduction to Anthropology (Diversity/MGM) What it means to be human. Human nature
through time and around the world; human evolution, culture, kinship, religion, politics, economics, and language.
3 Cr. F, S.
8.
Indicate the clientele for whom this course is designed. Is the course for general education only, or
does it fulfill general education and other program needs for this or another department? Obtain
signatures from any affected departments.
General education students
9.
Indicate any changes that must be made in offerings or resources in your department or other
departments by offering this course.
None
10.
For new courses or courses not yet approved for General Education, indicate any other SCSU departments
or units offering instruction that relates to the content of the proposed course.
n/a
11.
Courses designated as General Education are included in the assessment plan for the Goal Area(s)
12/11/2009
for which they are approved. Courses for which assessment is not included in the annual GE
assessment report for two years will be removed from the General Education Program.
The Requesting Unit understands and recognizes the above conditions.
12.
Provide a concise explanation of how the following goal is a “significant focus” of the proposed course.
Goal Area 5: History and the Social & Behavioral Sciences
Develop understanding of human societies and behaviors, and of the concepts, theories, and methods of
history and the social sciences.
ANTH 101 has been from its inception a course that is devoted to understanding human socieites and
behaviors over time and across space. The course considers human evolution and human variation, the origins of
social complexity and of agriculture, and the range of human cultural variation in the world today. It is also
dedicated to introducing students to the concepts, theories, and methods of biological anthropology, archaeology,
and cultural anthropology.
13. In order for a course to be designated as fulfilling Goal Area 5, it must address at least 4 of the 5 student learning
outcomes (SLOs) below. Check the SLOs below that are focused on in the proposed general education course.
1. Describe or use the methods and data by which historians, social scientists, or behavioral scientists investigate
human conditions.
2. Analyze human behavior, cultures, and social institutions and processes from the perspectives of history or the
social and behavioral sciences.
3. Develop explanations for and explore solutions to historical or contemporary social problems.
4. Reflect upon themselves in relation to family, communities, society, culture, and/or their histories.
5. Apply and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories about human societies and behaviors.
14.
Discuss how each Student Learning Outcome checked above is achieved in this course. (Note: Although
descriptions of typical assignments or types of assignments may be part of this discussion, it is not
appropriate to submit copies of actual assignments.)
Students achieve SLO 1 by describing the methods and data of the subfields of anthropology. Students are
able to describe the field-based approach to studying the human condition that is characteristic of anthropology.
Students achieve SLO 2 by analyzing human behavior, cultures, and social institutions and processes
from the perspective of anthropology. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of culture, the central analytic
tool of anthropology.
Students achieve SLO 3 by developing cultural explanations for such social problems as social inequality,
with particular attention paid to gender, class, caste, "race," ethnicity, and nationalism, and to issues of uneven
globalizaiton and human rights.
Students achieve SLO 4 by reflecting on themselves though the mirror of otherness, as alternative forms
of family, community, society, and culture are presented daily in the course. Particular attention is paid to this
aspect of the comparative nature of anthropology.
Students achieve SLO 5 by applying and critiquing alternative explanatory systems in essay and multiple
choice exams that require the student to demonstrate familiarity with functionalist, marxian, and post-structuralist
arguments about culture, as well as Lamarkian and Darwinian theories of biological evolution.
12/11/2009
15.
List or attach the Course Outline (adequately described and including percentage of time to be allocated
to each topic). Curriculum Committees may request additional information. Topics larger than 20% need
to be broken down further. Indicate in your course outline where the Student Learning Outcomes
checked above are being met.
Introduction: 3.57%
The principles of evolution:
7.14% SLO 1, 2, 5
Human variation:
7.14% SLO 1, 2, 5
Comparing Humans to other primates: 7.14% SLO 4
Human origins: 7.14% SLO 1, 2, 5
Studying the human past: 7.14% SLO 1
Agriculture and urbanization: 3.57% SLO 1, 2, 5
The concept of culture: 7.14% SLO 1-5
Human language: 7.14% SLO 1-5
Symbolic practices: play, art, myth, ritual:
7.14% SLO 1-5
Economic and political relations in human societies: 7.14% SLO 1-5
Kinship and Family:
7.14% SLO 1-5
Social inequality:
7.14% SLO 1-5
Globalization: 7.14% SLO 1-5
Anthropology and everyday life:
3.57% SLO 1, 3, 4
12/11/2009
St. Cloud State University
General Education Transmittal Form
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date:
Effective Date:
Proposal Number
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Course or Course(s): ANTH 101
Robert H. Lavenda
Department or Unit Chair Signature
Date
Department forward to Academic Affairs for publication and electronically to Chair of General Education Committee, Chair
of College Curriculum Committee, College Dean
Recommendation of General Education Committee:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
Chairperson
Committee
Signature
Date
Recommendation of University Curriculum Committee:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
Chairperson
Committee
Signature
Date
Recommendation of Faculty Association:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
FA Senate
Signature
Date
Action of Academic Vice President:
Approve
Disapprove
Signature
Entered in Curriculum Data File
12/11/2009
Remarks:
Date