Beloit College Courses

Fall 2001

FS 100: First Year Seminar
Designed to foster inquiry and discussion among participants, the FYI seminar becomes a cooperative academic experience. The sharing of ideas and emphasizing personal responsibility for intellectual development encourage students to engage actively not only in inquiry and analysis but in the setting and pursuit of personal goals.

ANTH 100: Society and Culture
An introduction to cultural anthropology. A comparative study of contemporary cultures and the influence of culture on thought and behavior, social relations, and dealings with the natural and supernatural.

LATN 103: Beginning Latin I
Intensive and thorough presentation of all Latin grammar and forms. Designed to enable a disciplined student to deal as soon as possible with the Latin text in a competent and sure manner.

BIOL 131: Introduction to Evolution
An exploration of descent with modification and the evolutionary history of life on earth. The history and philosophy of evolutionary theory, the genetic basis of microevolution, contemporary hypotheses of speciation, and phylogenetic systematics comprise the major course material.

Spring 2002

LATN 108: Beginning Latin II
Intensive review of Latin forms and syntax, followed by the reading of Book VI of the Aeneid. Prose composition is included.

EDUC 101: Education in a Democratic Society
This course examines the role of education in a democratic society. Students are introduced to the historical, philosophical, social, and political principles and issues of schooling in a democracy. Four interrelated themes of freedom, equity, community, and responsibility provide a conceptual framework and foundation for future study in education. Includes 10 hours of field experience.

ANTH 110: Archaeology and Prehistory
An introduction to archaeology. Human technical and cultural development from the prehominid state to the beginnings of European history.

CLAS 225: Topics: Pathology and Mythology
Detailed, interdisciplinary inquiries into the cross-fertilization of myth and history as revealed by the complex of verbal, artistic, and archaeological records. Through this correlation of traditionally discrete fields, a new picture emerges of the Minoan, Mycenaean, Archaic, and Classical periods of civilization.

Summer 2002

EDUC 240: Introduction to Teaching ESL/Bilingual Education
An introduction to approaches and methods of teaching English as a second or foreign language and the socio-political context of bilingual education and ESL in the United States. Students will also examine some aspects of the structure of English and begin to learn how to describe and teach it. In addition, they will learn how decisions about teaching methods, course syllabi, and materials are related to teaching setting and learner needs and goals. Includes 10 hours of field experience for certifiers.

EDUC 244 & 245: Grammar, Curriculum, and Materials in ESL
An introduction to English grammar and the development of curriculum and materials for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL). The first part of the course focuses on English grammar from a pedagogical perspective in order to develop an understanding of English grammar, become aware of the role of grammar in language learning, and gain practice in developing pedagogically appropriate lessons. The second part of the course focuses on course design and materials development in ESL/EFL settings, emphasizing the need for planning based on knowledge of the teaching setting, learner goal, and learner characteristics. The goals of the second part of the course are to make prospective and current language teachers aware of existing materials and to introduce principles that guide the selection and adaptation of materials

Fall 2002

LING 100: Introduction to Language
As an introductory survey course in the scientific study of language, this course introduces the structure of language and its major areas of study: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. A second, equally important goal is to promote awareness of language in its broader historical, social, cultural, and political perspectives though a focus on the great issues (“grey tissues”) of language, introducing topics such as the origin of language, human and nonhuman language, language acquisition, and language varieties, including “standard” forms and dialects.

LATN 395: Teaching Assistant
Work with faculty in classroom instruction.

MATH 110: Calculus I
The development of a rigorous mathematics of change: limits and continuity, differentiation and integration of algebraic and trigonometric functions. Attention is paid to the historical development of these ideas and to a variety of applications of calculus.

HIST 244: The United States in the 20th Century: 1901-1945
Emphasis on foreign relations and domestic social issues: the Progressive Era, World War I, the 1920s, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II.

Spring 2003

HIST 150: Topics: Looking East in a Medieval World
This course introduces students to historical inquiry by exploring particular themes or problems in history rather than providing traditional surveys based on geographical area and chronology. Regardless of the topic, each instructor approaches the issue of historical analysis and interpretation in a comparative social and cultural perspective or across a significant breadth of time. Students are expected to appreciate differing interpretations of the same historical questions and to learn how to distinguish primary and secondary source material.

HIST 190: History Workshop
This course acquaints students with the different approaches to writing history by providing samples of the various ways in which historians (and non-historians) have treated problems in the past. The class also aims to give students experience doing history by working with various kinds of sources. Finally, the course seeks to get students excited about the field of history by addressing the issue of why someone would want to become an historian. This course is required for all history majors, who should complete it by the end of their sophomore year or before they declare a major.

IDST 272: The Balkans: A Sense of Region
Forming a southeast appendage to the larger continental extension known as Europe, the Balkans (Turkish for “forested mountains”) is a region of about 320,000 square miles, inhabited by some 90 million people. Its relatively modest size notwithstanding, the region and its peoples have played a role of considerable importance in history. Classical Greece and Rome claimed it as a valued part of their empires, and Byzantium considered it a constituent as well as a potential threat to its dominance. Its earliest inhabitants--Illyrians, Wlachs, Dacians et al.--left only faint traces of their presence, as they became outnumbered by South Slavs. Once the zone of lively commerce between Europe and the Orient, the Balkans lost out to the Atlantic explorer-traders, and its nascent cultures were nipped in the bud by centuries of armed struggle against Islamic invasion. The region became most marginalized in the modern era, as the decline of Ottoman rule was combined with the occasional involvement of other powers. The region’s strategic location, combined with a glaring failure to quell sharply conflicting ethnic aspirations, made the Balkans the spark of recurring conflicts and the site of brutal confrontations. Today, the Balkans is relatively quiet, even if a number of thorny issues (Cyprus, Macedonia, Transylvania, et al.) await solution, and the civilizational struggle for the allegiance of its peoples is far from over.

LING 200: The English Language
This course has as its central focus the origins and development of the English language. In addition, attention is given to the nature of language, the international phonetic alphabet, the sounds and spelling of English, the development of written languages, the Indo-European backgrounds of English, the development and uses of dictionaries and grammars, sources of English vocabulary, mechanisms of word coinage, recent research in linguistics and sociolinguistics, and linguistic differences between British and American speakers, African-American and white American speakers, and masculine and feminine speakers. The course takes the semantic and syntactic evolution of English as a window on sociocultural process.