Three new courses, including two from the sciences, added to General Education curriculum

The General Education committee approved three classes last Thursday at its second meeting of the year, bringing the total number of courses in the new curriculum to 54.

Two of the three classes approved were in the sciences—an area in which the committee has had trouble recruiting professors to teach new courses for a general audience.

The environmental science course Science B-35: “How To Build a Habitable Planet” will count toward Gen Ed’s Science of the Physical Universe requirement. Life and Physical Sciences A: “Foundational Chemistry and Biology” was approved for the Science of Living Systems category.

On the humanities side, folklore and mythology professor Maria Tatar’s popular Core class, Literature and Arts A-17: “Childhood: Its History, Philosophy, and Literature,” will fulfill either the Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding or Culture and Belief requirement—but not both at once, according to Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Stephanie H. Kenen.

Finding science classes for popular consumption has been a challenge for decades, due to the difficulties departments face in tailoring technical offerings to non-concentrators.

“The science categories present a real challenge,” said Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris, who serves as chair of the Gen Ed committee. “There’s a limit to what you can teach students who don’t have the foundational knowledge.”

Harris added that he was confident professors could create “some really interesting courses” to fulfill these categories.

The Gen Ed committee has also had trouble this year filling the social science categories Societies of the World and United States in the World.

Only one of the 13 science classes approved thus far—Science of Living Systems 12: “Understanding Darwinism”—was designed specifically for the Gen Ed program. The other courses, including both of the science offerings approved last week, have previously been offered either as department or Core courses.

Harris emphasized, however, that even though the Gen Ed committee has been filling the new curriculum with holdovers from the Core program, many recycled courses will exhibit “significant changes,” including more hands-on lab experience.