About+Focused+Inquiry

As the first part of a two-semester course sequence, UNIV 111 will help you build the communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills essential for successful university work. Designed to mirror the thinking and writing challenges that students experience sequentially as they move through their undergraduate programs, the UNIV 111 curriculum will prepare you to:  · apply critical thinking strategies to texts, ideas, and arguments  · prepare for whole class and small group discussion,  · generate relevant questions and conclusions,  · support conclusions with appropriate evidence,  · generate both informal and formal written products for assessment,  · practice appropriate information retrieval and source evaluation,  · work collaboratively on activities and projects,  · interrogate principles of ethical and civic responsibility, and <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 39pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 39.0pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">recognize how quantitative information may be used as evidence <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The course material provides you with opportunities to learn the skills and practice the strategies that will enhance your subsequent academic performance in all disciplines, as well as facilitate professional success and lifelong learning. UNIV 111 applies the notion of the "spiral curriculum" in that you will repeat activities that allow you to revisit analytical concepts and practices, building upon these until you have grasped and internalized the steps of the analytical process. Each “level” of this “spiral curriculum” will be more complex and involved, so that you will sharpen your thinking as you move through the course. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Specifically, the UNIV 111 curriculum hones your ability to interpret, analyze, evaluate, and infer based on appropriate evidence. By the end of the course, you will be equipped to generate substantive critical responses, both written and oral, based on evidence, facts, logical conclusions, and reasons, rather than on personal assumptions or unreflective assertions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The course is divided up into three theoretically and thematically connected units which address the concept of memory/history/possibility. The units are:
 * <span style="0in line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Experience/Culture/Text (// Memory) //
 * <span style="0in line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Text/Context (// History) //
 * <span style="0in line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Context/Argument (// Possibility) //