Core Curriculum Guide: Knowledge Areas
Scientific Literacy
Learning Outcome: Demonstrate scientific literacy.
Scientific literacy provides individuals with fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of the sciences, and introduces them to the methodology of scientific inquiry. It prepares them to make reasoned and ethical judgments about the impact of science on the individual, community and society.
Competencies: By way of example, Loyola graduates should be able to:
- Perceive the basic philosophical and historical foundations of contemporary science.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of the sciences.
- Participate in a direct experience of scientific inquiry using the methodologies and tools of science, whenever possible, in a laboratory or field setting.
- Use cognitive and mathematical skills employed by scientists.
- Demonstrate the capacity to make reasoned and ethical judgments about the impact of science on the individual, community, and society.
- Demonstrate the capacity to utilize scientific knowledge to promote the health and well-being of the individual, community, and society.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection among the various components of Earth's biosphere and the impact of human activity.
Scientific Literacy Courses
| Human Origins | ANTH 101 |
| This course explores the study of the biological history of the human species, from its emergence through the establishment of food producing societies. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of basic biological principles (heredity, physiology, evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, ecology) in the context of their application to the human condition, as well as the role of cultural behavior in defining the distinctiveness of that condition. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking quantitative analysis qualitative analysis |
| Biological Basis for Human Social Behavior | ANTH 103 |
| This course examines the possible biological bases of modern human behavior, from a strongly scientific and multi-disciplinary perspective. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the process of how science is conducted, and the interactions between science and culture, especially given the controversial history of the subject matter. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness |
| Humans and Their Natural Environment: Past and Present | ANTH 104 |
| This course is an introduction to global human ecology and concentrates on how we as humans affect global ecosystems and how these changes can impact our behavior, health, economics, and politics. Outcome: Students will be able to draw connections between basic ecological processes and the global patterns of human population growth, health and disease, inequality and poverty, subsistence strategies, and land use and technology. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness information literacy |
| Modern Human Biology and Behavior | ANTH 105 |
| This course examines the history of the concept of the biological race, the emergence and role of scientific racism, as well as the current scientific research objectives and methodologies. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the assessment and explanations for human interpopulational differences such as skin color, nasal shape, eye color, hair color and form, disease resistance, and blood polymorphisms. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Sex, Science and Anthropological Inquiry | ANTH 106 |
| This course examines the issues of sex and gender within physical/biological anthropology. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of human genetics, patterns of human heredity, the mechanisms of biological evolution, the nature/nurture debate, primate taxonomy and behavior, and early human fossil evidence and interpretation. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Biology through Art | BIOL 110 |
Focusing on fundamental principles and concepts in several areas in the biological sciences from molecular biology to human anatomy, this course covers the scientific method, the basics of experimental design, and putting these concepts into practice in the laboratory, and integrates biology and art through the creation of artworks in a laboratory/studio. Students view microorganisms, use DNA as an artistic medium, create music based on DNA sequence, and see anatomy as art. The course culminates in students creating their own biological self-portrait.Outcome: Students will be able to understand the fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of the sciences; participate in a direct experience of scientific inquiry using the methodologies and tools of science; and develop the capacity to utilize scientific knowledge to promote the health and well being of the individual, community, and society. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Life and Inquiry | ENVS 103 |
| This course examines the concepts and characteristics of life as a series of biochemical and biophysical processes at the molecular, cellular, systems and organismal levels. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the unity and diversity of life, the structure of matter, energy and its transformations, cell structure and physiology, general cell biochemistry, and form and function in physiological systems. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Evolution and Genetics | ENVS 210 |
| This course examines the major scientific discoveries (laws and theories), from the beginning of the 19th century to modern times, that have helped develop the basic underpinnings of evolutionary theory. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of cell division, gamete formation, genetics, gene locus, gene frequency analyses, DNA structure and replication, protein synthesis, point mutations, law of superposition, radioactive dating mechanisms, evidence for evolution and mechanisms of evolution. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Motion | ENVS 210 |
| The concept of motion is central to the field of physics. The intent in this course will be to give students a broad view of the historical development of this concept, its derived regularities and their applications to a variety of natural phenomena. The evolution of this concept will be traced from the classical Greek views of Aristotle, through Galileo and Newton to modern theories of planetary motion. Students will use both cognitive and quantitative skills in this course as students analyze primary data, apply derived mathematical regularities to everyday observations and draw valid, logical conclusions regarding these phenomena. Outcome: Students will be introduced to the thinking and methodology of this field as they follow the logical progression that has led to its structure of theories and laws. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking quantitative |
| Matter | ENVS 211 |
| This course traces the historical development of what is meant by “matter” beginning with the early Greek philosophers, proceeding through the concept of the atom and concluding with the quantum theory of matter. Outcome: Students will gain an understanding of how science builds a logical structure of theories and laws and how these constructs are then applied. Students will learn how to draw valid, logical conclusions regarding various observed phenomena, utilizing skills such as scientific notation, reasoning based on orders of magnitude, scaling, proportionality, deduction, induction, cause and effect and reduction ad absurdum. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Plants and Civilization | ENVS 207 |
| This course examines the structure, function, ecology, and diversity of plants, and allows evaluation of the importance of plants to human civilization on multiple levels. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of plant biology and the critical role of plants in the biosphere, as well as direct linkages between plants and human society. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Human Heredity | NTSC 108 |
| This course is a comprehensive overview of the field of human heredity with an emphasis on genetic disorders. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the critical concepts, principles and knowledge needed to understand the origin, transmission, characteristics and treatment of genetic diseases. |
View syllabus Skill Area: ethical awareness |
| Human Reproduction | NTSC 109 |
| This course examines the fundamental principles and knowledge in the field of human reproduction. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the physiological processes of reproduction, the molecular and cellular foundations of these processes, major threats to reproductive health/success in humans and the various technologies and public policies that have arisen around this field. |
View syllabus Skill Area: ethical awareness |
| Earth Science: The Changing Planet | ENVS 213 |
| This course is an introduction to the earth sciences concentrating on the features and processes found at the surface of the Earth and in its interior. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of different approaches to the study of Earth Science, as well as the laws and priorities that have changed the Earth. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking; quantitative |
| Weather and Climatology | ENVS 214 |
This course is an introduction to the topic of Weather and Climatology, exploring the interactions between earth-atmosphere-ocean systems and their relationship to weather and climateOutcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of the sciences, and use cognitive and mathematical skills to represent and interpret quantitative information symbolically, graphically and in written form. |
Skill Area: critical thinking; quantitative skills |
| Environmental Sustainability | ENVS 283 |
| This course examines the area of environmental science relative to the impact that humans as consumers have on the environment and how these interactions affect the probability of establishing sustainability for human and non-human inhabitants of planet Earth. Outcome: Students will be able to analyze specific environmental issues related to sustainability and to reflect upon how and to what extent our individual behaviors impact the problem and the potential for individual change and civic engagement. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Energy and the Environment ENVS | ENVS 273 |
| This course will introduce the basic knowledge that has been developed as well as the underlying processes and laws that govern the nature of energy and its interactions. This will include an introduction to fundamental physics concepts including work, power, motion, forces, heat, and energy. Outcome: Students will be introduced to the thinking and methodology used by scientists in this field to gain an understanding of how science builds a logical structure of theories and laws and how these constructs are then applied. This requires that students use both cognitive and quantitative skills. There will be opportunities to analyze data in this field allowing students to draw valid, logical conclusions regarding various observed phenomena. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Human Impact on the Environment | ENVS 281 |
| This course examines how ecological systems work and how the structure and function of these systems is altered by human activity. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the diversity, complexity, and functioning of natural ecosystems through examination of species interactions, energy flow, and elemental cycles, and how these vary with natural environmental variation. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| The Human Environment | ENVS 282 |
| This course examines the fundamental principles, concepts and knowledge in the area of environmental science relative to the impact that current environmental conditions have on the health and well being of humans. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the interplay between matter and energy for both physical and life-sustaining processes. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Liberal Arts Physics | PHYS 101 |
| This course uses physics as a vehicle to introduce students to the fundamental principles, concepts, and knowledge of the sciences, and introduces them to the methodology of scientific inquiry. Outcome: Students will be able to make reasoned judgments about the impact of science on the individual, community and society. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking quantitative |
| Planetary and Solar System Astronomy | PHYS 103 |
| This course examines the development of planetary and solar system astronomy from the time of the Copernican revolution through current issues in planetary science. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the scientific revolution of solar system atronomy and its characteristics. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking quantitative |