SPRING QUARTER 2003
Faculty :Terry Ford
and Sherry Walton
Description
Konrad
Lorenz filled his home with animals to explore the relationship between
animal and human behavior. Beverly Taytum interviewed and observed students
to develop an understanding of race relations and the developmental stages
of African American children's identity formation. Daran Kravan relived
his years in the Cambodian Killing Fields to make meaning of those experiences.
Terry Tempest Williams immersed herself in nature to search for an understanding
of the challenges her family faced.
These
people all sought answers to questions that consumed them, that demanded
answers. This program is for first-year and transfer students who also
have compelling questions they want to begin to answer. Because each person's
question requires a different focus, a substantial amount of time will
be devoted to individual projects. We will read and discuss a variety of
books by and about people who sought answers to complex questions. We will
formulate clear questions, develop approaches for seeking answers, and
create multiple ways of demonstrating knowledge. Research methods may include
traditional library-oriented and Internet research as well as documentation
of anecdotal information through oral histories, surveys and interviews.
Methods of data gathering, analysis, reporting and presentation will be
explored. Students will have options of demonstrating their learning through
oral presentations, photographic essays, written essays, video or multi-media.
Credit
awarded in research writing,
introduction to qualitative research, introduction to statistics and content-specific
knowledge developed as a result of the individual inquiry.
Total:
16 credits.
Program
is preparatory for careers and future studies in any upper-division program
or careers that require the ability to formulate a research question, determine
appropriate approaches for seeking and evaluating answers and making public
presentations.