LAS 1 (LAS 1110) - The Natural Environment - Understanding Our Place in the Natural World

In LAS 1 students will be asked to become attentive to the natural world as more than a backdrop to human activity. By understanding nature as a living community of which we are a part, we can begin to appreciate how our relationship to it is vital, not only for our material survival, but for the recognition of our own humanity.

For this first seminar in the Liberal Arts & Sciences, students will engage in the kind of open‐ended thinking that defines the liberal arts and sciences, thereby gaining a foundation for the kind of critical and reflective skills they will need as they continue their course of study in the LAS Core Curriculum and their majors. Using a multidisciplinary approach, seminars will explore the sciences, literature, art, and philosophies of nature in order to better understand our place in the Natural world.

Within the framework of a developmental pedagogy, writing will be intensive, but the emphasis will be formative. Students will be assessed with a set of criteria that are developmental in nature. LAS 1 is designated as a writing‐intensive General Education seminar. (4 Credits)