General Education Course Proposal Form 2010
Natural Science
YSU graduates must have two or three natural science courses; at least one must include a lab.
General-education course proposals must include this page, the pages on Criteria Response and Narrative, and a syllabus
that includes a calendar. Send the general-education coordinator this sheet, signed by those listed below, via interoffice
mail. Send the entire completed form and syllabus electronically to the coordinator, Tod Porter at tsporter@ysu.edu.
Note: Cells will expand as you type in them (this is a Word table). You can also copy material into the cells from other
documents as needed.
Department or Program:
Course number, title, and catalog description:
Faculty teaching the course:
Estimated number of sections to be offered in
Other departments requiring this course:
Fall semester:
Spring semester:
Department or program chair signature
Date
Dean’s signature
Date
Coordinator, GEC, signature
Date
Chair, Academic Senate, signature
Date
GEC Proposal Number (GEC Use Only):
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General Education Course Proposal Form 2010
Criteria Response
Please indicate in just a few sentences how the course satisfies each of the criteria listed. Natural Sciences courses must
meet Learning Outcomes 13, 6, and 7. The criteria for each LO are listed in the appendix. Other LOs are possible, too.
They may be added below (see http://www.ysu.edu/ger/model.html for more information). You may provide more
information in the narrative.
LO 13: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the natural environment and the processes that
shape it.
How course satisfies LO:
LO 6: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method.
How course satisfies LO:
LO 7: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships among science, technology and
society.
How course satisfies LO:
Narrative
Please explay why this course should be included in the Natural Science domain. The narrative should speak directly to
the outcomes listed above (including other relevant outcomes), and demonstrate how those goals will be met and
assessed. Your response should integrate and expand upon key points from the Criteria Response. Identify and address
any other goals attained. Please remember in your response that the General Education Committee is an
interdisciplinary committee composed of members who may not be familiar with the discipline being represented (see
the general-education site for more information on the goals: http://www.ysu.edu/ger/).
Attach a syllabus that includes a calendar.
GEC Proposal Number (GEC Use Only):
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General Education Course Proposal Form 2010
Appendix
Natural Sciences Information
Students must take a minimum of two, and no more than three, courses from a list of courses that address learning
outcome 13 and, in addition, learning outcomes 6 or 7. At least one course must have a laboratory component.
Natural Science Learning Outcomes and Criteria
Learning Outcome 13: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the natural environment and the processes
that shape it.
The course must
1) provide an understanding of principles/concepts of basic science associated with the physical and/or biological environments;
2) utilize principles of basic science as the unifying themes of the course;
3) describe and illustrate these principles of basic science regarding the natural environment as the majority of the course.
Learning Outcome 6: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method.
The course must
1) demonstrate what the scientific method is and is not by the use of illustrative examples;
2) introduce students to the prime components of the scientific method involving the formulation and use of a predictive, testable, and
potentially falsified hypothesis, the design of appropriate experiments, the observation, measurement, and critical analysis of
experimental data, the drawing of appropriate conclusions, and the acceptance, rejection or revision of the initial hypothesis;
3) help the student learn how the iterative process by which science is practiced leads to the development of reliable theories that are
validated and extended or eventually overturned based on subsequent research;
4) provide an appreciation of the empiricism and experimentation on which science is based, the tentative nature of the scientific
knowledge, an understanding of cause and effect, and the results that science produces;
5) link the process by which science is carried out with knowledge that science produces.
Learning Outcome 7: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships among science,
technology and society.
The course must
1) emphasize the interrelationships between the different scientific sub-disciplines;
2) relate the fundamental principles of science to their technological applications;
3) relate the results of science to its social consequences;
4) discuss the multiple perspectives in approaches to questions employed by different scientific and technological disciplines and other
elements in society;
5) examine ways in which society has shaped scientific thought and progress;
6) discuss scientific progress and the transfer of technology within their historical and social contexts.
Ohio Transfer Module Requirements
Specific to Natural Sciences, the Ohio Board of Regents has included requirements with which YSU must comply
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Course helps the students to develop an understanding of structured thinking involving induction and deduction.
Course is from natural science disciplines such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, physical geography or
physics.
The course has as a goal the development of an understanding of how scientific principles are built and used in the modern world and of
the impact of science on society.
The course does not focus exclusively on content coverage, without addressing the learning outcomes for the Transfer Module.
Course has a laboratory component that has at least one credit hour and meets an average of no less than two hours per week. [One
course must meet this criterion.]
GEC Proposal Number (GEC Use Only):
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General Education Course Proposal Form 2010
General-Education Information
Submit newly proposed courses for certification as general-education courses and previously approved by the University
Curriculum Committee (UCC) directly to the General Education Committee (GEC). Proposed courses or those with changes in title,
description, prerequisite, etc., should also be submitted to the college-curriculum committee. Send the material to the generaleducation coordinator via e-mail; send the signed cover sheet via regular interoffice mail.
The General-Education Committee (GEC) reviews and certifies courses for general-education credit and reviews and certifies
capstone courses in the major or program. The GEC will use the outcomes and the criteria to make judgments about certification
and to ensure, to the extent possible, that the outcomes of general education are achieved. Departments, programs, colleges, and
the GEC are mutually accountable for ensuring that their majors achieve breadth and depth of coverage.
All general-education courses will attempt to integrate the following learning outcomes wherever possible:
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LO 1: Write and speak effectively.
LO 2: Acquire, process and present quantitative and qualitative information using the most appropriate technologies.
LO 3: Reason critically, to distinguish among forms of argumentation, and to derive justified conclusions.
LO 5: The use mathematics for problem-solving and decision-making.
LO 10: The development of cultures and organizations of human societies throughout the world and their changing
interrelationships with Western Society.
LO 12: Diversity in America in all of its forms.
The GEC expects that writing assignments will extend beyond writing for tests.
All general-education courses must satisfy the outcomes in a given domain and must be designed for the general student body.
Exceptions to this principle include courses submitted by departments to satisfy the capstone requirement in the major; and courses
approved as substitutes for general-education requirements. The requirements of general education in a given domain may be met
by substitution of a more advanced course when that course satisfies the outcomes for that domain and obtains certification.
Any department proposing courses must offer assurances to the GEC that faculty members who teach a general-education course
meet the minimal qualifications required by Higher Learning Commission guidelines (“hold graduate degrees that include substantial
study [typically a minimum of 18 semester hours at the graduate level] appropriate to the academic field in which they are
teaching”). The GEC interprets this guideline to mean that anyone teaching in an interdisciplinary program need meet the minimum
for only one of the disciplines involved in that interdisciplinary program.
In each of the domains where multiple outcomes are to be addressed, the General-Education Committee will be looking for a
substantive description that explicitly and directly addresses how the course fulfills the primary outcomes. When outcomes beyond
those designated as the featured or primary outcomes of a particular domain are involved, such as in Artistic and Literary
Perspectives, the course must explicitly and directly address the secondary outcome only within the context of the primary
outcomes.
GEC Proposal Number (GEC Use Only):
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