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Description

An introduction to cultural anthropology, which is the study of human cultures, both historical and contemporary. Students analyze the ways in which social categories are imagined, reproduced, and grounded within particular historical and geographical contexts around the world, in order to understand how humans create meaning through everyday practices. (3B) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: preference given to first-year and sophomore students.

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Description

All human societies face challenges, including those relating to power, identity, conflict, health, sustainability, and climate change. Using scientific and humanistic methods and theories, archaeology provides unique lessons for addressing such issues in the present and the future. In this course, we begin with an introduction to basic archaeological methods and theories, as well as the major trends of prehistory. Throughout the remainder of the class, we analyze case studies to better understand how societies succeed or fail when faced with specific challenges within different social, political, and environmental contexts. (3B) (Also listed as Critical Identity Studies 141.) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: preference given to first-year and sophomore students.

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Description

This studio course introduces the fundamentals of three-dimensional design. It stresses line, plane, and volume and the ways these elements occupy and activate space. Additionally, principles that transform viewers’ interpretations and realize artistic intent are addressed through the use of unifiers, modifiers, symbols, metaphors, and embellishments. This course combines studio projects, class discussions, readings, and slide lectures with group critiques. Art appreciation is also a component of this course. (2A) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: first-year standing or declared Studio Art or Art History major or minor.

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Description

This studio course introduces the basic techniques, processes, and creative possibilities of digital photography. Students will learn the expressive potential of light, composition, contrast, focus, and perspective. We will examine both the historical and aesthetic issues associated with the practice. Includes studio projects, lectures, assigned readings, class discussions, field trips, and individual and group critiques. (2A) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: continuous access to a digital camera with exposure controls and 5 megapixels.

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Description

This course is designed to investigate the basic techniques, concepts, and practices of digital imaging, as well as to support students’ conceptual development. The application of photographic and graphic-related software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Creative Suite, are introduced in this course. It is also intended to strengthen critical and research skills through students’ artistic productions. The course includes readings, class discussions, writing, slide presentations, individual projects, and group and individual critiques. (2A)

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Description

This course investigates various portraiture genres, styles, and ideas, while simultaneously questioning the possibilities of their own preconceived notions of art. Students engage in the creative process and acquire skills to arrive at representational outcomes. Visual and verbal discussions include, but are not limited to, researching artists, exploring idea development, and experimenting to represent three-dimensional subject matter on a two-dimensional canvas.

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Description

The structure and function of plants emphasizing adaptations to the environment. The course focuses on the ecology, evolution, reproduction, physiology, cellular and molecular biology, and genetics of flowering plants. The course stresses scientific principles and experimental methods. Students design, perform, analyze, and report on small research projects. Three two-hour lecture-laboratory periods per week. (4U) Offered yearly.

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Description

The exploration of freshwater and marine organisms through their evolutionary relationships, ecology, structure and function, and behavior. Students learn about all types of aquatic ecosystems and engage with contemporary issues in aquatic biology, including how human influences have altered aquatic ecosystems over time. This course stresses scientific principles and experimental methods. Students design, perform, analyze, and report on small research projects. Laboratory work requires dissection.

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Description

The anatomy and basic normal functions of the human body with consideration of development, genetics, immunology, endocrinology, and related molecular, cellular, and ecological concepts, and an emphasis on scientific principles and experimental methods. Students design, perform, analyze, and report on small research projects. Laboratory work requires dissection.

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Description

Why is chemistry important to other sciences, technology, and society? What processes do chemists use when dealing with real problems? What conceptual models do chemists use to understand and explain their observations? The focus of this course is on the reasons for doing science, the intellectual and instrumental tools used, the models developed to solve new problems, and the assertion that chemistry has a tremendous effect on your personal life and on the decisions made by society. Along the way, we cover atoms, molecules, ions, and periodic properties; chemical equations, stoichiometry and moles; Lewis structures and VSEPR model of bonding; reactivity and functional groups; states of matter and intermolecular forces; relationships between structure and properties. Topical applications and issues vary with the instructor and may include climate change, food and fuel, and energy use for lighting. Three two-hour class periods per week of combined lecture, laboratory, and discussion. (4U) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: facility with algebra. Note: Students with a strong prior background in chemistry are encouraged to consult with the department about placement in a more advanced chemistry course.

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Description

This beginning course offers an introduction to Mandarin. Class sessions stress the acquisition of basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Approximately 600 traditional characters are introduced, more than 1,000 combined words and phrases, and basic grammatical structures in Mandarin. (1S) Offered each year.

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Description

Through aural, oral, and compositional exercises and reading selections, these courses build upon prior competencies. After a review of basic grammatical structures and characters, students add more traditional and simplified characters to sharpen reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. This course aims to transfer the knowledge students gained from the character-pattern approach at the beginning level to work with original Chinese texts at the advanced level.

Open to students who have previously studied Chinese. Please contact Professor Daniel Youd (youdd@beloit.edu) to discuss your experience and to confirm which course is right for you.

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Description

This course introduces students to the multiplicity of ideas at the intersections of biological sexes, racialized and sexual identities, variously marked bodies, and gendered expressions, as well as the power embedded in their various representations in popular culture.

We consider various strands of feminism, divergent positions among queer theorists, and arguments drawn from other identity based fields to both survey and compare several inevitably conflicting perspectives on sex and power in U.S. contexts.

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Description

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies as it relates to history, politics, community, and activism. We will examine how the field of trans studies has emerged in dialogue with gender and sexuality studies, as well as how it stakes a claim for itself as a field and mode of analysis both separate from and integral to feminist and queer theory.

Defining “transgender” broadly to include a range of experiences, identities, and embodiments, we will ground theoretical discussions in the everyday lives of trans and non-binary people, examining how race, class, gender, and sexuality shape positionality and proximity to violence, employment, healthcare, and community.

Students will pay special attention to the ways trans studies and trans activism explore possibilities of resistance to interlocking structures of power, imagining new ways of being in everyday life–including everyday life at Beloit College.

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Description

This course is a structured approach to algorithm development and problem solving using computer programming in an object-oriented programming language such as Java or Python. The course develops the concepts of procedural abstraction, program design, debugging, and testing in addition to teaching the standard features of a high-level computer programming language. Students will be introduced to the key concepts of object-oriented programming, including classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and interfaces. Societal issues related to computers (e.g. ethics, privacy, liability, and security) will also be discussed. (1S) Offered each semester.

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Description

This course takes an analytical approach to economic reasoning and contemporary economic issues. It introduces microeconomic and macroeconomic theories with applications to relevant issues such as employment, growth, international trade and finance, monetary and fiscal policy, and environmental issues. (3B) Offered each semester.

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Description

An exploration of a variety of philosophical and historical approaches to the study of education and youth are integrated throughout this class. Students’ own educational experiences are taken into consideration through digital stories. These student experiences, in school and out of school, as well as the students’ developmental histories and personal philosophies, are considered in their relation to each other, as sources of knowledge and understanding. Students read and write about philosophers and theorists from a broad range of traditions, periods, and places. Integrated with philosophical explorations, students undertake historical investigations of schooling youth; this course focuses on the history of the U.S. and the development of ideas of democratic schooling in contexts of inequality. These explorations also include investigating how media and propaganda impact societal norms and influence education and youth. Additionally, a strong emphasis is placed on anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-heterosexism, and (dis)able bodies. In their writing and face-to-face interactions, students are strongly encouraged to employ philosophical and historical methodologies for their own self-expression. (5T) Offered each fall and alternate spring semesters.

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Description

An exploration of major theories and significant research on the development and explanation of social and cultural differences and how they affect the lives and education of youth. The course will investigate student diversity, with special attention to race, class, gender, language, and the inclusion of students with special needs in general education. Issues are examined mainly through the lenses of sociology, anthropology, and education and youth policy. Using the theories and methodologies of these disciplines, students will critically examine how and why race, class, language, ability and disability, and gender have influenced education. (3B) (Also listed as Critical Identity Studies.) Offered each spring and alternate fall semesters.

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Description

In this seminar, we explore comparative and international perspectives on education and youth studies by focusing on readings that primarily address comparative methodology, including the questions, what is comparative education, and why and how we compare. A prominent theme in our reading is globalization and localization, what it means and how it influences our intellectual and social landscapes, our teaching and research approaches, how we borrow and lend educational ideas, and the way we are connected to each other. We explore how particular kinds of comparative literature might shape public policy as well as our teaching and learning. Through a close examination of comparative methodologies and reading of case studies from different cultures and societies, students learn to position domestic issues on youth and education such as language, inclusion, choice, race/ ethnicity, class, gender and beyond, in the global context. We also aim to draw implications for the improvement of policies related to teacher education and curriculum and pedagogy from international comparisons. Our class is largely discussion based with class participants responsible for guiding our analyses of case studies and comparative methodology in part by sharing weekly reading response and through group presentation projects. The class also incorporates other multi-media sources such as podcasts and videos to help enrich our understandings of the issues we study. (3B) (Also listed as Critical Identity Studies 267 and Political Science 205.) Offered each fall.

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Description

What does it mean to “love” a fictional character? Does literature love us back? In novels, characters often confess to us their closest held desires and beliefs. We get to go deeper inside the minds and hearts of people than we ever could in real life. What do we learn about the nature of love when we have this kind of access? Poetry is often first and foremost love poetry. What does it mean for a poet to treat a lover as an occasion for writing while expecting someone else—us—to be the audience actually reading? This course will introduce students to literary analysis and close reading by exploring the intimate relations that literature offers. On the one hand, we will explore how love, sex, desire, and friendship are represented in literature. On the other, we will study how readers and communities have fallen in love with literature and used it for both personal and political ends. How do women and queer people re-write narratives of sexuality? How can sex, intimacy, friendship, and love be politicized?

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Description

From Tony Stark to Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s monster to the androids of modern science fiction, stories about science often explore the lines between genius and “madness,” wonder and pragmatism, and humans and the technology we create. At the same time, art and science are often framed as opposite poles on a continuum, with creativity, inspiration, and art on one side, and science, logic, and reason on the other. In this course, we consider the distance and overlap between the arts and sciences, “mad” scientists and the monsters they create, and how writers of fiction, poetry, and other texts have approached science as subject, metaphor, and worldview. We also develop and practice skills of close reading, interpretation, and analysis that prepare you for future college-level writing and literary study.

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Description

When talking about nineteenth-century Russian literature, one inevitably utters—often in one breath—the names of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and their pairing has led to a conglomerate name—Tolstoevsky—used in jest to emphasize their dual and dominating significance. Yet though each engages the so-called “accursed questions” that permeate most of Russian literature—the meaning of life, the existence of God, the role of the individual, and so on—each comes to his own conclusions. In his famous essay on Tolstoy’s philosophy of history, “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” Isaiah Berlin begins by quoting the Greek poet Archilochus: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Berlin goes on to position several writers and thinkers throughout the ages into one or the other category. Dostoevsky, according to Berlin, “is nothing if not a hedgehog”; Tolstoy, however, is a bit harder to categorize, for, as Berlin argues, “Tolstoy was by nature a fox, but believed in being a hedgehog” (from Russian Thinkers, 1978, pp. 23-24). In order to get at the essence of their differences, we’ll be reading the magnum opus of each writer: Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In addition, we’ll be reading Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground as well as various critical responses to the novels by both contemporaries and later critics, including Berlin, D. H. Lawrence, Albert Camus, and Sigmund Freud. Our discussion will center on the novels as both literary and philosophical texts; in the process, we will attempt both to identify the “one big thing” Dostoevsky knows and the “many things” Tolstoy knows and to interrogate the underlying assumptions of Berlin’s categorization.

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Description

Essentials of French grammar. Composition, conversation, and oral practice. Reading of French prose. Four hours of classroom instruction and recitation and two hours of independent preparation for each classroom hour, including laboratory-type exercises, are required. Students are graded, in part, on their command of oral use of French. (1S) Offered each year.AFTER ON-LINE REGISTRATION CLOSES, MODERN LANGUAGES FACULTY REVIEW ALL LANGUAGE COURSE ENROLLMENTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT A STUDENT HAS ENROLLED IN THE RECOMMENDED PLACEMENT LEVEL. IF NOT, THE STUDENT WILL BE CONTACTED BY THE DEPARTMENT TO DETERMINE WHETHER A DROP OR REGISTRATION IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE COURSE IS APPROPRIATE.

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Description

This is a full year of beginning college French in one semester for those with previous formal exposure to French or another Romance Language. This course presumes a basic knowledge of French orthography and pronunciation as well as recognition and/or use of elementary everyday vocabulary, the present tense, and grammatical concepts. Classroom activities will be conducted in French from the first day of class, and language lessons will prepare students to function in culturally authentic communicative situations.

Open to students with previous experience in French. Students must take an online placement exam. The exam should take less than an hour and requires you to log in using your Beloit username and password. Contact Joseph Derosier (derosierjp@beloit.edu) with any questions.

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Description

This course continues to develop oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills in French through readings and discussions of cultural materials from France and other Francophone countries. These include literary texts and texts on contemporary issues. The course also includes a thorough review of French grammar and extensive oral work using computer support.

Open to students with previous experience in French. Students must take an online placement exam. The exam should take less than an hour and requires you to log in using your Beloit username and password. Contact Joseph Derosier (derosierjp@beloit.edu) with any questions.

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Description

This is an advanced language and composition course with a twist: the course focuses on environmental writing, activism, and culture in French and Francophone literature, culture, media, and film. Students revise and perfect grammar and composition through exploring the zero waste movement spearheaded by Zero Waste France and the governmental projects to reduce waste. As students work through media, literature, film, government documents, and public-facing educational projects, they move toward final projects to draft a proposal and create presentations to make Beloit “plus vert” (“more green”). This course covers complex grammar points, oral expression, vocabulary building, and writing for diverse audiences. It particularly emphasizes written expression through structured writing assignments, in order to build confidence in communication skills, productive collaboration, and the ability to address, respond to, and solve local problems.

Open to students with previous experience in French. Students must take an online placement exam. The exam should take less than an hour and requires you to log in using your Beloit username and password. Contact Joseph Derosier (derosierjp@beloit.edu) with any questions.

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Description

Exploration of geologic processes that shape our dynamic planet and how they interact as a system. Topics include plate tectonics, deep time, climate, volcanoes, earthquakes, streams and groundwater, glaciers, natural resources, and the interactions between geologic processes and human populations. The class emphasizes both global systems and the geology of southern Wisconsin. We focus on using scientific methods to decipher complex interactive processes and developing skills for observation and analysis in the field and laboratory. One Saturday or Sunday field trip. Students who have credit for Geology 110 may not take this course for credit. (4U) Offered yearly.

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Description

Examination of a wide variety of scientific tools and datasets allows us to reconstruct the history of the Earth. Information from rock associations, fossils, stratigraphic correlations, geochemistry, and radioactive-age determinations forms a logical picture of the co-evolution of the Earth’s lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The human dimension of historical geology is revealed in tracing the development of the concept of time, and through discussions of the rate and magnitude of human-induced environmental change. Lecture, discussion, laboratory, field study. One Saturday or Sunday field trip. (4U) Offered yearly.

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Description

In this class, students master the basic vocabulary and forms of the language of the Caesars, Cicero, and the citizens of the Roman Empire. Latin is an advantageous starting point for learning any of the modern Romance languages (including Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian), and an education in Latin literature was once considered the backbone of a liberal arts education. This course is designed to enable a disciplined student to deal as soon as possible with Latin texts in a competent and sure manner. (1S) Offered each fall.

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Description

In those times when life seems chaotic, when the world seems to be bubbling over with political and cultural crises, when nothing seems to be going well, why is it that humans come to crave, in those moments, an entertainment as fundamentally destabilizing, disheartening, and terrifying as tragic drama? In this course, students explore ancient Greco-Roman tragedy, focusing on two questions: how these texts work as performance pieces with generic and pragmatic constraints, and how they use what we might call horror to reflect and comment on the pressing social issues of their time. The course also considers, briefly, theoretical approaches to the effects of tragedy in society and Shakespearean adaptation of Greco-Roman themes and theatrical techniques. Taught in English.

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Description

What can a study of the ancient Greeks teach us about history, politics, philosophy, law, literature, gender, sexuality, and art? And how reliable are works of literature as historical sources? This course follows the birth and progression of Greek societies from the Bronze Age through the death of Alexander the Great. Students learn much about the Greeks, but are also challenged both to extract nuanced historical information from literary sources and to relate the ancient material of the course to modern day practices, ideas, and structures. Taught in English. (3B) (Also listed as History 221.) Offered fall term, even years.

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Description

Travel in the Middle Ages was difficult and dangerous, but many people undertook challenging journeys and, in the process, encountered new landscapes and cultures. This course explores the experiences of long-distance travelers, the routes they took, and the ways that increased travel changed the culture of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean world between 1050 and 1500. This course shares with all introductory history courses the goal of cultivating “historical thinking” through close attention to original sources and to writing. Students will also learn to make simple digital maps to illustrate their research.

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Description

Taking a broad, thematic approach, this class introduces students to the field of modern European urban history. Throughout the semester, we will ask about how the city developed into a symbol of modernity, an environment where both the positive and the negative aspects of an imagined future could be observed in the present.

First, the class will examine the material changes that the city underwent in the modern age. In that context, we will discuss urban growth, and how it was connected to industrialization; and we will study the transformation of European cities through city planning, including the economic, military, and aesthetic ideas underlying transformative projects such as Baron Haussmann’s re-building of Paris in the nineteenth century.

Second, the class will look at the city as a space of conflict. We are going to analyze revolutionary movements, tensions between classes and different ethnic groups, as well as the creation of police forces as a government attempt to control urban space.

Third, the connections of European cities to a wider geographic environment will be analyzed. Here we will talk about cities as nodes in networks of communication and trade, and about cities as centers of colonial empires.

A final, fourth question to be asked is how the city was used to produce collective meanings and cultural interpretations. We will study maps to find out about changing notions of urban geography, and we will talk about monumental sites of memory in cities. We are also going to analyze paintings of cities, watch videos, and look at literary and theoretical writings about the European metropolis.

At the end of the semester, students will produce research papers providing their own interpretations of the city in the modern age.

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Description

This course examines Chinese history and culture in the context of the wider East Asian and Pacific Ocean worlds. We begin with early Chinese history and the formulation of institutions that would persist for millennia. In an even broader perspective, we consider China’s (and East Asia’s) role in a complex Pacific world, and how that region has shaped the world at large—from cultural and military forces to environmental issues, trade, and development. We then examine the development of China’s imperial tradition, from the first empire (the Qin) through the last (the Qing).

The second half of the course will deal with modern Chinese history and culture, paying equal attention to historical and ethnographic materials, and taking a careful look at the complex interplay between regional and national forces in Chinese history. Throughout the course we use examples from the Chinese language—spoken phrases, written puzzles, and more—to analyze Chinese history and culture in linguistic context.

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Description

This class provides an introduction to the history of communication in Europe and the European colonial empires, with an emphasis on the period from the eighteenth century to the present.

Over the course of the semester, we will examine the ways in which new media and technologies of communication have influenced modern European cultures, economic structures, and political systems. We will discuss the emergence of a public sphere in the coffee houses of eighteenth-century Europe, and we will trace the history of letter writing in the nineteenth century, before ending the semester with an analysis of the history of internet communication in the past twenty years.

Throughout the semester, we will study the exponential increase in the speed of communication through modern inventions such as the telegraph and the telephone. As we will see, these new technologies significantly reduced the importance of geographical distances in people’s everyday lives, and they allowed European rulers a much more direct and flexible control of their overseas territories.

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Description

As Native peoples, Africans, and Europeans came into contact with one another, their actions altered both the cultural and natural landscapes of the present-day United States. This course will focus on some of these actions, both intentional and unwitting, as we consider central questions of American environmental history from the colonial era through the present day. We will think about the ways that different cultural approaches to land, plants, and animals transform ecological systems, as well as the ways that different groups of people approach various landscapes. We will also consider environmental causes and consequences of otherwise familiar historical events, as well as the ways that class and, especially, race, affect people’s relationships with “the environment.” Additional topics include ideas and experiences of “nature”; slavery and the plantation system; the displacement of indigenous peoples; and the rise of environmentalism and its transformation by issues of inequality and justice. (5T) (Also listed as Critical Identity Studies 237/Environmental Studies 237.) Open to first-year students.

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Description

This course, which is part of the Everyday Leadership program, provides an introduction to the basics of effective leadership, including an investigation of leadership theories and assessment of leadership styles. Guest presenters provide various viewpoints regarding different leadership styles. Students identify and describe leadership concepts and styles and apply strategies of leadership to various situations and contexts. This is a ¼ unit course, and should be taken in addition to three or four 1 unit unit courses.

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Description

Provides a foundation in basic Japanese. Students learn most of the basic Japanese grammatical patterns, the two phonetic alphabets, Hiragana and Katakana, as well as approximately 100 Chinese characters (Kanji). Instruction and training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. (1S) Offered each year.

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Description

A thorough review of the basic patterns of Japanese. Continue work with Kanji. Classes taught in Japanese to stress training in listening comprehension, speaking, and composition.

Open to students who have previously studied Japanese. Please contact Professor Susan Furukawa (furukawas@beloit.edu) to complete a placement exam by July 1.

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Description

Basic techniques of reportage, from researching to writing to editing. Emphasis on writing for newspapers, though other print and broadcast media also will be examined. Written assignments may include news stories, book and movie reviews, interviews, human interest stories, feature articles, and editorials. (Also listed as Media Studies 125.) (2A) Offered each fall.

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Description

The mathematics necessary for calculus: algebraic manipulations; radicals and exponents; logarithmic, exponential and trigonometric functions; graphing and analytical geometry; theory of polynomials; complex numbers, and how such mathematics is developed. This course is designed for students who wish to take calculus but are not adequately prepared by their high school background. Prerequisite: First- or second-year standing. Not open to juniors and seniors without departmental permission. Not open to students who have received credit for calculus.

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Description

An introduction to differential and integral calculus. Limits and continuity, derivatives and integrals of polynomial, trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions, applications of derivatives to optimization and approximation, the Mean Value Theorem, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. (1S) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: four years of high school mathematics, including trigonometry and either college algebra or precalculus.

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Description

Exploring the work of filmmakers from around the globe, this introductory-level course examines the formal elements of filmmaking as well as the various forces—political, technological, cultural, and economic—that give rise to specific kinds of cinematic art. The course format combines lectures, discussions, student presentations, and film screenings. (5T) Offered each fall.

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Description

This introductory-level course examines the art and practice of nonfiction video production, focusing specifically on the process of making documentaries. Students acquire basic audio and video production skills—videography, video editing, lighting, sound recording, and sound design—and will apply these skills in the creation of their own, original nonfiction video projects. Students will also examine some of the legal and ethical issues that directors of documentary typically encounter, as well as some of the social and political roles that documentaries play within our society. (Also listed as Journalism 155.) (2A) Offered every other year.

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A large choral ensemble composed of Beloit College students, faculty, staff, and members of the surrounding community. Membership is open to all students, placement hearing by director. (2A)

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Description

This innovative string ensemble (violin, viola, cello, bass) breaks into nonconventional genres for strings in addition to performing traditional string orchestra repertoire. The course includes but is not limited to the following styles: bluegrass, blues, classical, jazz, Latin, pop, and tango. Students are encouraged to engage through performance, improvisation, and theory with opportunities for arranging and composition. Students need only basic skills on their instrument and an open mind. Neither prior improvisational skills nor theory background are required. Open to all students. Placement hearing by director. 

Please contact Directors Mary Gaines and Chris Wagoner for more information. 

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Description

Program and activities depend on the interests of the participants. Repertoire consists of a variety of styles, including music of the big bands; swing, jazz, and blues. Open to all members of Beloit College. (2A)

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A select vocal ensemble that performs quality choral literature of all styles and historical periods. The ensemble is devoted to the development of comprehensive musicianship, choral singing, and fundamental musical skills. Membership is open to all students through audition. (2A)

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Description

Consists of students and community members. Performs a large variety of classical and modern music. Open to all students, faculty, staff, and members of the surrounding community. No audition required. Placement hearing by director. (2A)

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This course offers individualized piano instruction in a group setting. Students of all skill levels are welcome, but it is particularly targeted to those with little or no piano background. Reading skills are developed, while also increasing the student’s familiarity with basic musical terms and directions. For those students with more extensive background, there is flexibility regarding choice of repertoire to achieve these goals.

This is an excellent way to prepare for higher level courses and/or participation in ensembles offered by the music department. This course may be taken twice for credit. This is a ½ unit course.

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Description

This course explores how and why it is that we, as individuals and communities, read, write, and interpret histories to justify our love of or identification with musics and sounds. The purpose of this class is to learn how we can use music history (including the methods and tools of musicology and music historiography) to empower and liberate our sense of self, our identities, our communities, and our values. (5T) (Also listed as Critical Identity Studies 142 and History 211.) Offered each fall semester.

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Description

Open to all students, this introductory course comprises two integrated components: the development of music theory skills alongside the conceptual investigation of sound and music. Developed through lectures and lab sections, skills include basic experience with notation, rhythm, chords, keys, transposition, and tonal function. Readings and class discussions take us beyond either the notes on the page or tracks from a playlist as we study how musical experiences are shaped by intersecting social, political, economic, and historical influences. Topics might include the exploration of listening, performance, improvisation, notation, psychoacoustics, temporality, and music’s intersection with the body, race, gender, and class. Skills homework and readings are assigned weekly. (1S) Offered each semester.

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Description

In addition to surveying the evolution and development of sound recording technologies, this class examines the impact that these technologies have on the conception, creation, distribution, policing and evaluation of sound and music.

This class starts with the premise that “The point of recording and reproduction is not to mirror sound but to shape it actively (Jonathan Sterne).” From Edison cylinders and 78s to mp3s and streaming services, the medium of recorded sound has radically and actively transformed, distorted, and helped us to reimagine our sense of self, community, and aesthetic and social possibilities.

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Description

Human experience is already fleeting, but what happens when art—often considered to capture something of human experience—is intentionally made to be short-lived? As many disciplines move away from texts (and the associated implication of permanence) and towards embodiment, some art is created for a specific place, time, or body and never to be repeated.

This course investigates ephemerality, notions of performativity, and the aesthetic experience from interdisciplinary perspectives, including readings and discussions about sound, dance, theatre, visual art, street art, land art, digital art, and installation. Putting theory into practice, students create and/or perform, document, and write about their own ephemeral art. Ephemeral art events take place on campus throughout the semester.

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Description

A survey of the educational, curatorial, exhibition, public relations, and research missions of museums. Stress is placed on the role of museums in various communities, their organizational and administrative structures, their ethical, moral, and legal obligations, and sources of support. Lecture, discussion, and field trips.

This is a ½ unit class, and should be taken in addition to three or four 1-unit classes.

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Description

This .25 unit course is designed to help students learn the basics of weight training, including proper techniques and the safe way to use weights in their overall training. Using free weights, machines, weighted balls as well as body weight, they will learn the areas of the body that each exercise works on. They will learn the different types of weight training, power, strength, training to lose weight and for tone. Students will learn how to set up their own training programs based on the goals set at the beginning of the class.

Note: No more than a total of 1.0 unit of PERC courses may apply to a Beloit degree. Any one PERC course may only be taken once for credit.

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Description

This .25 unit course is designed to show students the basics of body weight training and how to design workouts. These exercises, by definition, use a person’s body as the weight rather than an external force. Examples include pushups, planks, sit-ups, crunches, and burpees. Students set goals, improve their fitness level, and learn to put together their own workouts, all while listening to hip hop and pop music from the 1990s and 2000s.

Note: No more than a total of 1.0 unit of PERC courses may apply to a Beloit degree. Any one PERC course may be taken only once for credit.

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Description

In this .25 unit course students learn the basics of health and wellness. This includes but is not limited to nutrition, meditation, fitness, stress and time management. Students set health goals, develop an understanding of how psychological and emotional health are connected to our overall well-being and identify lifestyle changes that enhance lifelong health.

Note: No more than a total of 1.0 unit of PERC courses may apply to a Beloit degree. Any one PERC course may be taken only once for credit.

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Description

An investigation of the formal structure of reasoning and the logical relationships that underlie good arguments. Many college courses explore and investigate the reasons to take something to be so; logic explores the correctness or strength of reasoning itself. This course will have a particular emphasis on the major historical methods for symbolically representing and analyzing deductive arguments: Aristotelian logic, propositional logic, and predicate logic. Some attention may also be paid to informal logical fallacies. (1S) Offered each semester.

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An exploration of some of the central questions and problems addressed by philosophers, such as: What is it to be a person? How can we live well and act responsibly? What is the nature of justice? Is it possible to act freely? What can we know about the world around us? What is the relationship between the mind and body? These questions, and others like them, are at the heart of philosophy. In this course, we will engage them through the writings of philosophers who have taken on these questions themselves. Expect to think carefully and write critically, skills meant to serve you in and beyond college. (5T) Offered each semester. Prerequisite: not open to students who have taken Philosophy 115.

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Reflections on the nature of religious experience broadly conceived, and its relation to ethics, reason, and science. This course will focus on the ongoing significance of issues arising in the classical philosophy of religion regarding the transcendence and attributes of God. We will examine the history of these debates and consider how they inform our contemporary attitudes toward nature, technology, society, and what it means to be a human being. (5T) Offered occasionally. Prerequisite: Philosophy 110 or 115, or consent of instructor.

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An introduction to the fundamental concepts of classical mechanics: Newton’s laws, conservation of momentum and energy, and oscillatory and rotational motion. Students planning to take additional physics courses should take Mathematics 110 concurrently with Physics 101. Four hours of classroom work and two hours of laboratory work are required each week. (4U) Offered each fall. Prerequisite: high-school mathematics, including trigonometry.

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This course takes the student through the process of designing a device that performs a specific function, from the inception of the design to the final prototyping stage.

The process begins with examining possible currently-existing devices, defining the specifications for the device, developing a model, demonstrating the practicality of the proposed model through a proof-of-concept example, reviewing the design from the standpoint of cost analysis and ethical considerations, and the final prototype construction. Students present their prototypes to the class and wider college community at the end of the term.

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An introduction to modern astronomy, with emphasis on the development of planetary, stellar, and galactic systems. Study of the observations and physical laws that lead astronomers to our current understanding of the universe. Evening laboratories include outdoor observations using binoculars and telescopes, as well as indoor observations using planetarium software and astronomical datasets. Four class hours per week. (4U) Offered occasionally.

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Introduction to U.S. government and politics at the national and state levels. Provides background on guiding principles, constitutional guarantees, the federal system, major institutions, and mechanisms that link citizens to officials. Covers both federal and state levels and their interaction in topics such as elections and political executives, which include the president and governors. Illustrative use of public policy materials, especially health policy, as well as current events and issues. Serves as a basic course for any student wishing to gain a foundation in U.S. politics and as the prerequisite for many courses in the American politics subfield. (3B) Offered each semester.

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Introduction to the internal politics and policies of various countries throughout the world. Themes of the course include: methods and approaches of comparative analysis; democratic vs. authoritarian systems; political culture and state traditions; political attitudes and ideologies; executive, legislative, and judicial systems; electoral and party systems; interest groups and other civil society actors; political economy; and selected domestic and foreign policy issues. Students may elect to use this course as part of their preparation for study abroad. (3B) Offered each semester.

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Introduction to the workings of the international political and economic systems from both a practical and theoretical perspective. Offers a brief history of the key events which have shaped international politics, introduces the major theoretical approaches of the discipline, and explores mechanisms for conflict and cooperation. (3B) Offered each semester.

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This course introduces students to psychological issues and phenomena. A wide range of representative topics acquaints students with the methods and content of the field.

For Students Interested in Psychology

Students who have earned a 4 or 5 on the AP Psychology exam or have earned credit for a college-level course in Psychology, are eligible to register for any 200-level course in Psychology. See the Portal for more information

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Examination of the major sociological paradigms, theories, and processes shaping the relationship between society and individuals. Elements emphasized include the following: social structure, institutions and roles, culture, sex and gender, social class and stratification, social change, methodology, race and ethnicity, socialization. The goal is to develop the sociological imagination, which is an analytical perspective examining the interplay between structure and agency. (Content varies by instructor for each section. Consult instructor for further information.) (3B) Offered each semester.

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Examination of various means of addressing current social problems, both in the United States and globally, including, but not limited to: advocacy, non-violent direct action, legislative reform, economic development, charitable giving, and community organizing. The issues studied include refugee resettlement, welfare, human rights, civil rights, torture, substance abuse, globalization, and hunger, as well as those chosen by class participants. The course is taught utilizing academic texts, popular media, guest speakers, field trips, and lecture and discussion. The class will conclude with a comparative research paper and student presentations. (3B) Offered occasionally.

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Based on a communicative approach, this course provides a solid foundation of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students have daily assignments intended to help them communicate orally and in written form about themselves, friends, and family as well as customs and practices in the Spanish-speaking world in the present, past, and future tenses. Participation in Spanish-language activities outside of the classroom and/or in the local Latino community is expected.

Open only to students with no previous knowledge of Spanish. Students who have previously studied Spanish must take an online placement exam for placement in a course. If you have questions about the exam or your placement, contact: Prof. Sylvia López (lopezs@beloit.edu).

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A fundamental acting course designed to develop basic acting skills with strong emphasis on the Stanislavski method. Focuses on the analysis of dramatic action and the process of developing a character. Applicable for majors and non-majors. (2A) Offered each semester.

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An introduction to the principles of design and technology for the stage. This class includes an introduction to: research methods, from the designer’s point of view; study of professional practices in the development of designs; an overview of the realization of stage designs. This class does not presuppose any technical knowledge. (2A) Offered each fall.

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Introduction to the technique, creative processes, and historical contexts of classical ballet. Classes include exercise at the barre, center work, and combinations across the floor designed to acquaint students with the basic principles of ballet movement and aesthetic. Students research, write about, and discuss the history of the art form. (2A) Offered each fall.

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This course is designed to teach students how to prepare the visual image of the actor for the stage. The first half of the course focuses on the process and skills needed for the execution of costumes, called costume technology. We cover beginning costume construction techniques, hand and machine sewing, the organization of the costume shop - both the materials and the staff - and the process of costuming a show. The second half of the course focuses on makeup application for the stage and safety.

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A study of major methods of dramatic and play analysis accompanied by extensive play reading. Works are analyzed from the points of view of the scholar, critic, director, designer, and actor. Major papers required. Offered even years, fall semester.

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A continuation of Modern Dance I with further emphasis on movement proficiency and combinations. May be taken up to two times for credit. This course is open to first year students with past experience in Dance. 

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Discussion and application of choreographic principles beginning with the basics of time, space, and line. The course then moves on to more complex issues of form, style, and abstraction. Students compose movement studies for performance in class and for a studio performance at the end of the semester.

Open to students with previous experience with dance. Please contact Chris Johnson (johnsnc@beloit.edu) with questions.

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The names of women who made important contributions to theatre are buried deep within archives around the world. Sometimes they never made it to the archives, and the discovery of a woman’s contribution to theatre comes from an oral history and snapshots retrieved from the back of a closet.

Who was Doris Clare Zinkeisen or Gladys Edith Mabel Calthrop? How does it change our understanding of the discipline if Adunni Oluwole’s work is recognized as the first guerilla theatre?

he assumption has been that guerilla theatre was an American invention by Ronald Guy Davis: but actually, one woman started it on the streets of Ibadan, Nigeria. This course examines the “historical facts” of theatre and asks, “Who else was trying this? And where was it being tried? How are these histories uncovered and traced?”

These questions will lead us to discover the significant contributions women playwrights, performers, designers, and directors have made to global theatre. The course delves into the biographies, achievements, and the socio-political and cultural pressures women have faced as theatre artists.

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Students learn and practice the basic exercises that make up a Pilates mat sequence. Pilates is focused on strengthening the core of the body in order to support physical health and prevent injuries.

This course increases the student’s overall strength, flexibility, and stability, while also emphasizing breath integration as support for all movement. Students learn the history and development of this exercise form as well as create their own mat sequence to support their individual physical health goals.

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Since 1516, “utopia” has meant both a “good place” and “no place”—an impossible place. With this concern as its starting point, our course will explore the limits and challenges of visionary thought in a wide range of sources, including fiction, poetry, philosophy, visual media, and cultural criticism. Along the way, we will focus on the explosion of utopian and dystopian thought in recent public discourse, in television (“The Good Place”), in historical texts, and in science fiction.

Throughout the term, members of this writing-intensive class will gain experience constructing verbal and written arguments, revising written work, working with sources, presenting oral material, and drawing connections between academic disciplines. They will write over twenty pages, including short essays, film/media reviews, and many informal writing exercises.

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This course focuses on improving students’ reading and writing skills for college-level work. Students engage in collaborative workshops with peers, individual conferences with the instructor, and a regular developmental writing practice throughout the semester. We address the writing process, working with sources, and the elements of good writing, from organization to sentence-level clarity and correctness.

This section focuses on social justice. In particular, students will be asked to engage with the campus community and the wider public while thinking about the intersections of power, race, class, gender, and sexuality. Students will also learn about careers in social justice. Students who may be interested in the Rights and Justice or Worldbuilding Career Channels at Beloit are particularly encouraged to enroll.

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This course explores the relationship between writing well and the topic of wellness. We examine ideas about what “good writing” looks like and strategies students can use in their writing process to generate it, as well as how contemporary concepts and claims about wellness and “well-being” in our lives more generally provide useful points of reference as working college writers.

In this way, the course seeks to develop your college-level writing skills and to engage with your “whole student” experience at Beloit College–managing your time and being productive, having fun and taking care of yourself, and clarifying and achieving your goals. We focus primarily on academic expository writing, but students also engage in informal and creative work, as well as select a wellness-related activity to practice during the semester.

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We live in a world where concepts like “alternative facts” have become part of our regular discourse. Yet what do such concepts mean? And are they really so new? What fuels this tendency to seek and generate alternative truths to challenge the dominant narrative? Or is the concept of truth itself just an alternative fact?

This writing seminar will explore these questions through studying specific examples of “counter truths,” conspiracy theories, and alternative histories over time; in doing so, we will attempt to identify the underlying causes for their appearance and the common threads that may tie them together.

Writing assignments will include interpretive analyses, expository essays, and a research paper. In addition to group discussions around readings, class time will focus on developing strategies for approaching the writing process, improving mechanics and language use, and workshopping papers with peers. Students will also have regular one-on-one conferences with the instructor.

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This course helps students expand the horizons of their compositional practice by working on and within a specific medium: YouTube! We explore the challenges and opportunities presented by this video platform, and evaluate the choices made by its most popular and effective communicators. We compare YouTube content to other modes of rhetoric and composition, and make videos of our own that present topics to a wider audience.

Class will be a mix of discussion, writing, and workshopping video projects. No experience with YouTube or video production is required.

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In this course we harness data—and the technologies used to generate them—to become more perceptive readers and better writers. Is it possible to count, or quantify, the qualitative features of writing, whether a poem, a newspaper article, or a tweet? How do we see texts and the relationships between them differently when we use visual forms and graphs, such as word clouds, n-grams, or dendrograms?

In order to answer these questions, students experiment with some basic tools in the field of the Digital Humanities—e.g. digital Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) conventions—which they use to analyze their own writing as well as the writing of others.