Integrating Core Curriculum Objectives into Course Content

Christopher Krejci, Ph.D.

Temple College

Liberal Arts Division Meeting

January 11, 2016

​

Core Curriculum Objectives

• Critical-Thinking Skills: Students will engage in critical-thinking activities that include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information.

​

• Teamwork: Students will demonstrate the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal.

​

• Communication Skills: Students will demonstrate effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication.

​

• Social Responsibility: Students will demonstrate intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.

​

• Personal Responsibility: Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making.

​

​

Critical-Thinking Prompts

Sample Critical Thinking Prompts

• Some scholars use the term “Renaissance” (which means “rebirth”) to describe the period we are beginning to study. Others refer to it as “the Early Modern Period.” What are the implications of each title?

​

• How many different types of “English” do you find yourself using in a given day or week? Describe each and the contexts or circumstances that necessitate their use.

​

Learning Teams

Each member of the learning team will be responsible for performing one of the roles listed below.

• Task Manager: The task manager keeps the discussion moving, ensures that the group stays on task, and solicits equal input from all group members. He or she is also responsible for reporting on and/or organizing a report of the final product when necessary.

• Documentarian: The documentarian takes notes whenever the group meets, records group member roles, and drafts the final product when necessary. He or she makes important decisions about the format, organization, and overall look of the final product.

• Research Specialist: The research specialist checks data and sources when necessary, addresses questions and concerns or conveys questions and concerns to the instructor, and edits the final product for accuracy when necessary. He or she is responsible for finding and/or organizing the search for accurate and appropriate evidence to support the opinions and conclusions of the learning team.

​

​

Sample Learning-Team Research Tasks

• Critical Thinking: What shifts occurred in popular, philosophical, religious, or scientific thought during the Restoration and the 18^th Century? What and whose ideas received attention?

​

• Communication: What literary, technological, and scientific developments occurred during the Restoration and the 18^th Century? What was the impact of these changes?

​

• Social Responsibility: How was public/social life characterized during the Restoration and the 18^th Century?

​

• Personal Responsibility: What new ideas about private life or individual identity and individual rights emerged during the Restoration and the 18^th Century?

​

Core Curriculum Projects

Sample Core Curriculum Projects

• Social Responsibility Project: Students use what they have learned from their reading to identify an issue that affected individuals, communities, or a specific community during the Middle Ages. They then craft a visual text (a meme, an advertisement, or an info graphic) to “raise awareness” about the issue. Students also write a short essay that explains their creative choices in relation to the reading and discusses whether or not we face similar issues today.

​

• Communications Project: Students are assigned a poem from the Renaissance Period. They then craft and deliver an oral presentation about the historical contexts, literary conventions, and critical interpretations.

​

• Personal Responsibility Project: Students craft a fake social media profile and three posts from the point of view of a character or narrator found in a Restoration or 18th Century text. They also write a short essay to explain their creative choices and evaluate the character or narrator in relation to their own values.

Questions