Area D ~ Social Sciences

New Content:

D1: Social Sciences

Students shall take no more than four lower-division courses with the same subject prefix as their major to fulfill their general education requirements.

Approved Courses

Outcomes

As a collective of faculty from various social science disciplines, we believe that social science is a broad set of disciplines, as well as fields of study, such as global, gender, peace, and religious studies. As such, we propose the following five Outcomes with the intention of being inclusive and accommodating to all the disciplines and fields of study within the social sciences. The following five outcomes are distinctive in their foci but complementary to each other. Moreover, we are cognizant of the need to design outcomes that develop the knowledge and skills at the freshmen and sophomore levels, in order to prepare students for higher-order learning and analysis at the junior and senior levels in their respective major courses.

Under that overarching framework and understanding, Outcome #1 intends to build the basic foundational blocks of concepts/language/principles of a particular social science discipline or field of study. Outcome #2 intends to situate a discipline within a broader range of social science disciplines or fields of study. In other words, this outcome intends for students to be able to describe the similarities and differences of disciplines within the social sciences or fields of study. Outcome #3 focuses on contexts and intends for students to understand how a real-life social issue manifests in diverse social contexts. Outcome #4 focuses on global competency which transcends geographical/spatial concepts, and explores the meanings of concepts/principles in different global contexts, as well as the global impacts of social issues. Outcome #5 focuses on methodology and intends for students to understand that social science disciplines or fields of study can use a range of social scientific methods of inquiry to understand human behavior.

Basic Principles: Students identify and define major vocabulary, concepts, value systems, assumptions, theoretical perspectives, and ethical issues in a field of study or a discipline in the social sciences.
Inter-Disciplinarity: Students demonstrate an understanding of how a field of study or a discipline is similar to and different from other social sciences.
Contexts: Students demonstrate an understanding of one or more social issues across historical, cultural, geographical, economic, political or institutional dimensions.
Global Competency: Students demonstrate awareness that one or more social issues or concepts vary across global contexts or that a social issue has global impacts.
Methodology: Students demonstrate an understanding of how a field of study or discipline applies a range of social scientific methods of inquiry to understand human behavior within established ethical and/or professional frameworks.

D2: U.S. Histories & Democratic Participation

Students shall take no more than four lower-division courses with the same subject prefix as their major to fulfill their general education requirements.

Approved Courses

Outcomes

These outcomes reflect the statutory requirements mandated by CSU Executive Order 405 requiring students to understand U.S. History and an “American Ideals” requirement. A U.S. History/Democratic Participation course at CSUMB gives students the opportunity to examine U.S. Histories and the California and U.S. Constitutions within the context of CSUMB core values, including applied active and project based learning, multicultural and global perspectives, and ethical reflection and practice.

1. Historical Knowledge: Students identify and describe processes, diverse peoples, and events in the histories of what is now the United States nationally, regionally, and globally over a span of at least 100 years, including the study of culture, politics, economics, social movements and/or geography.

2. Historical Research and Analysis: Students become their own historians by demonstrating the ability to gather information, select relevant evidence from the information gathered, evaluate its credibility and use that evidence to explain and interpret the past.

~ Effectively identify relevant scholarly sources on the topic; understand the distinctions between primary historical evidence and secondary historical sources.

~ Select library databases appropriate to the topic. Identify and combine keywords and synonyms to develop a search strategy; effectively execute the search in appropriate library databases.

~ Evaluate the credibility of information sources, using the following criteria: expertise & credentials, purpose & audience, point of view.

3. Constitutional Knowledge: Students identify and describe general principles, major provisions, and political philosophies of the constitutions of the United States and California at the time of their creation and how these constitutions have changed over time as well as the relations of power, interests, and concerns that those changes reflect.

4. Comparative Political Analysis: Students demonstrate basic understanding of how U.S. and California political institutions and practices function at the local, state and national levels in comparison with other forms of governance in the world.

5. Application: Based on analysis of relevant sources, students use tools of political action in an historically informed political project focused on the local, state, or national levels that enables a reflection on the values and assumptions that inform their own and others’ political participation.

D3: Lower Division Service Learning

Students shall take no more than four lower-division courses with the same subject prefix as their major to fulfill their general education requirements.

All lower division service learning courses will integrate and fulfill both the Lower Division SL Outcomes and the outcomes from one of the A-E GE areas.

Approved Courses

Outcomes

Self and Social Awareness: Students develop an understanding of the social, cultural and civic aspects of their personal identities. Define and describe the concepts of individual social and cultural group identities and the concepts of social privilege and marginalization.Demonstrate critical self-reflection of their own assumptions, values, and stereotypes, and recognize the relative privilege and marginalization of their identities.
Service and Social Responsibility: Students develop an understanding of social responsibility and the connections between short-term community service and greater long-term societal well being. Articulate the relationship between individual, group, community and societal well being. Identify individual actions that contribute to short-term well being and/or greater long-term societal well being.
Community & Social Justice: Students develop an understanding of how the actions of individuals and social systems foster both equity and inequity in communities and society. Explore the demographics, socio-cultural dynamics and assets of a specific local community through a social justice framework. Examine a community issue(s) in the context of systemic inequity, discrimination and social injustice.
Multicultural Community Building/Civic Engagement: Students learn from and work responsively and inclusively with diverse individuals, groups and organizations to build more just, equitable, and sustainable communities. Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, reciprocity and responsiveness in service work with community. Enter, participate in, and exit a community in ways that are sensitive to systemic injustice. Identify and develop personal and institutional strategies, policies and practices that work towards creating greater equity and social justice in communities.

D4: Upper Division Service Learning

Students shall take no more than four lower-division courses with the same subject prefix as their major to fulfill their general education requirements.

Students should take one of the following courses only after they have achieved upper division status (60+ units).