Honors Critical Thinking and Inquiry in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Seminar: African Cultures

Course Description

An intensive focus on foundational tools for reasoning, including constructing sound arguments; evaluating the quality of evidence; and forming judgments about the evidence, arguments, and conclusions of others in Social and Behavioral Sciences disciplines. Prerequisite: Restricted to students in Lloyd International Honors College; Note: May be repeated once for credit when topic varies.

Syllabus

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

  • Critically analyze claims, arguments, artifacts or information.

  • Construct coherent, evidence-based arguments.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure

Percentage/Points

Weekly Quizzes

25%

Discussion concepts, comments, & summaries

25%

Midterm examination

25%

Final examination

25%

Grading Scale:

Percentage

Letter Grade

100 - 93

A

92 - 90

A-

89 - 87

B+

86 - 83

B

82 - 80

B-

79 - 77

C+

76 - 73

C

72 - 70

C-

69 - 67

D+

66 - 63

D

62 - 60

D-

59 or below

F

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance/Engagement, Class Discussions and Activities, etc is required.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

  • Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors, Nicholas Wade, Penguin, Release Date: April 20, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1594200793 | ISBN-13: 978-1594200793

  • The Africans: an Ethnological Account, Harold K. Schneider. 1981, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, ISBN-13: 9780130186485, ISBN 0-13-018648-1.

Scholarly Perspectives

This course engages diverse scholarly perspectives to develop critical thinking, analysis, and debate and inclusion of a reading does not imply endorsement.