GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE APPLICATION
1. Attach a proposed course syllabus.
2. Attach department minutes (both departments if proposing faculty does not reside in dept. where the course will be sponsored)
3. Provide 10 paper copies of this form and attachments (to the Gen Ed chair one week prior to consideration)
Course Title: Reacting to the Past
Subject: FYS
Instructor Proposing Course: Daniela Mansbach
Number: 103-003
Program/Unit: Political Science
Department sponsoring this course: Social inquiry
Date submitted to Gen-Ed: January 2014
1. Check the box(s) next to the Gen-Ed category being requested for the course listed above
and explain below why this should be placed in these category/ies.
Core Requirements:
Writing
Health & Human Performance
Math & Computer Science
Communicating Arts
Knowledge Category: (choose only one within the Knowledge Category)
Humanities:
History
Literature X World Language, Culture & Philosophy
Social Sciences:
Natural & Physical Science:
Fine & Applied Arts:
Environmental
Lab Science
Art History, Criticism & Appreciation
Diversity & Nonwestern Category:
Diversity
Aesthetic Experience
Nonwestern
Rationale for all Category/ies checked above:
This is a course in Political Philosophy, and like the other general education courses in political
philosophy (POLS 262 and POLS 265), this course fits the world language, culture and
philosophy category. The course examines the history of ideas, by using a role-playing
pedagogy that places students in the time when these ideas were shaped. Among the ideas and
concepts that are developed in this course are democracy; revolution; change; religion and
politics; racism and nationalism. The course aims to encourage students to think about how
these ideas were developed in a historical context, and how they shaped – and are still shaping
– some of our social, political and economic conditions and assumptions today. In addition to
making connections across these areas of knowledge, the course emphasizes multiplicity of
approaches and ideas to develop students’ understanding of diverse ideological traditions.
2. Is there a prerequisite for this course?
Yes
x No
If yes, why is the prerequisite necessary? (e. g. foreign language competency)
3. Explain how this course incorporates best practices in teaching.
Page 1 of 5
The courses include role-playing pedagogy Reacting to the Past (RTTP). RTTP, a pedagogy used
in 300 colleges and universities today, was created more than a decade ago to address some of the
challenges faculty encounters today, mainly student engagement, collaboration and active learning.
RTTP consists of elaborate games, set in the past, in which students are assigned roles informed by
classic texts in the history of ideas. Class sessions are run entirely by students; instructors advise and
guide students and grade their oral and written work. It seeks to draw students into the past, promote
engagement with big ideas, and improve intellectual and academic skills. Reacting to the Past was
honored with the 2004 Theodore Hesburgh Award (TIAA-CREF) for outstanding innovation in higher
education.
The scholarship on RTTP is diverse, and includes analyses of the impact on the role-playing
pedagogy for specific disciplines - including science (Henderson, 2008), chemistry (Henderson and
Henderson, 2013), theater (Hughes, 2009) and general education (Burney et al, 2008) –, as well as the
impact of the pedagogy on the development of specific skills (Higbee, 2008; Kathleen, 2009; Lightcap,
2009). Gorton and Havercroft (2012) conducted a research to examine the affect of using RTTP in
political theory courses. Their research assessed students’ performance in courses using RTTP, and
compared it to achievements of students in classes that did not use this pedagogy. They concluded
that this pedagogy helps students see intimate and reciprocal connections between politics, history and
political philosophy; it promotes the introduction of political ideas, and; educates students about the
nature of freedom and political action.
4. All Gen-Ed courses need to address at least some General Education Learning Goals.
Check the goals this course substantially addresses and explain in detail (a paragraph would
be appropriate) how the goal(s) will be met.
Communication: Students demonstrate effective communication skills in writing, speaking,
reading, and listening.
RTTP games are designed to promote students communication skills. During the games,
students get a personal character sheet, and they are required to give speeches and write
essays within character. In order to win their objectives and the game, students must interact
and debate with other students, during and outside of class. Assigning students historical roles,
with specific objectives, helps them develop their communication skills, without necessarily
having to reveal their personal opinion in class. The speeches (accompanied by speech prep
assignment), the written work within character, and participation in class, are the main
components of their final grade.
Critical Thinking: Students engage in critical thinking based on multiple forms of evidence.
RTTP is built around moments of debate and conflict in history, which concluded in the
development of ideas. For example, the game “Frederick Douglass: Slavery, Abolitionism, and
the Constitution,” which takes place in 1845, introduces students to a time and place almost
unimaginable today, when advocating an end to slavery was far more controversial than
supporting its perpetuation. Class debates focus on the intellectual and cultural clashes between
the “Defenders of the Constitution”—the entrenched, respectable defenders of American
slavery—and the Abolitionists—a small but dedicated movement calling for slavery’s immediate
and universal abolition. Requiring students to develop arguments – even if contradicting their
Page 2 of 5
own belief – and to engage in such debates help them understand current ideologies and
approaches, as well as the changing nature of what constitute “evidence”.
Creative Expression: Students develop skills in creative expression, including abstract
thinking.
Diversity and Global Citizenship: Students demonstrate empathetic and ethical thinking
based on knowledge of the diversity of human experience.
Interdisciplinary Connections: Students connect knowledge and methods from a variety of
disciplines through courses across the general education curriculum.
RTTP pedagogy emphasizes the development of ideas within their historical context.
Understanding the background and history is meant to allow students to understand the world
we live in today, as well as to imagine a world with different values. Thus, the use of RTTP
pedagogy in this course is meant to help student see connections between historical
developments, and sociological and political ideas that are now at the center of our belief
system. The course also connects methods, by requiring students to use different genres in
writing and expression.
Page 3 of 5
Gen-Ed Committee Decision:
X
Approved
Denied
Gen-Ed Committee Decision Rationale:
The course meets the specific goals for General Education certification as checked below:
Core Requirements: course meets the skills to be learned in this category
X
Knowledge Category: course meets the requirements of this category; the area of study
is central to the course design.
Diversity & Non Western category: course meets the specific requirement for that/those
designation(s)
X
The General Education Learning Goal(s)s is/are central to the design of this class
OR
This course does not meet the specific goals for General Education certification because:
This course did not address the goals of the category sought
This course did not sufficiently address the General Education Learning Goals
specifically:
The Gen-Ed Committee requests that your proposal be re-submitted with the areas checked above
addressed
3/1/2014
X
Jeffrey A. Schuldt
_______________________________
General Education Chair (printed name)
Jeffrey A. Schuldt
Jeffrey A. Schuldt
Professor; Department of Natural Sciences
______________________________
General Education Chair Signature
2-29-14
___________________________
Date
Page 4 of 5
Page 5 of 5