Areas of Inquiry

Drake students will learn to interpret and/or create art. Art constructs an essential and ongoing dialogue among individuals, cultures, and societies. Art—whether it takes visual, musical, or theatrical form—grows out of sustained intellectual inquiry. Drake students will recognize that art provides distinctive ways to engage the world and create expressions of the human condition. Courses that fulfill this AOI will engage students to achieve at least two of these student learning outcomes. Students will be able to:

1. Identify the characteristics of different artistic styles - visual, musical, or theatrical - and the factors that contributed to their establishment.
2. Articulate the role played by an art form - visual, musical, or theatrical - in the development of culture(s) or as a distinctive expression of human identity and creativity.
3. Articulate an analytical and reasoned understanding of a specific visual, musical, or theatrical art form and communicate this understanding in an appropriate form, whether oral or written or through the artistic medium itself.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the visual, musical, or theatrical arts through the application of or engagement with an art form.

Approved Course List:

The Drake Curriculum makes an intentional effort to help students acquire the skills for rational analysis and argumentation. Critical Thinking should be purposeful, rigorous, self-reflective, and based on a careful consideration of evidence. Students learn to:

• Clearly define a question or problem.
• Gather information that is relevant to that problem.
• Rigorously identify assumptions and preconceptions, including their own, that influence analysis of that problem.

Approved Course List:

Drake students will learn to participate effectively in democratic processes.

Democracy relies upon the participation of an engaged, knowledgeable and responsible citizenry. As preparation for active participation in public debate, Drake students learn to evaluate the mix of diverse values and interests that influence democratic decision-making. In a sophomore level course, students have the opportunity to bring diverse disciplines to bear in further developing the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that will lead them to be active stewards working for the common good of local, national and global communities.

This requirement will be fulfilled through coursework that challenges students to critically reflect upon the social, economic or political institutions and issues that shape the choices they will face as citizens. Instructors will provide students with opportunities to model democratic practices or public engagement through participatory activities organized in the classroom and/or community.

Courses that achieve this AOI will engage students to achieve at least two of the following four outcomes:

1. Learn to evaluate the mix of diverse values and interests that influence democratic decision-making.
2. Establish skills, knowledge, or dispositions that lead them to be active stewards for the common good.
3. Critically reflect on the social, economic, or political issues that they will face as citizens.
4. Learn democratic practices or public engagement through participatory activities organized in the classroom and/or in the community.

In order to take an Engaged Citizen AOI course, students must have 30 or more credit hours (sophomore standing).

Approved Course List:

Historical Foundations: Drake Students will gain greater understanding of the historical foundations of the modern world and the interconnections of global cultures. Two courses are required in this area of inquiry. Students will use historical analyses to study the interplay of multiple forces of change over time. Courses that count for this AOI will engage students to achieve at least two of these student learning outcomes. Students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the interplay of the fundamental historical forces (political, social, economic, cultural, scientific, and/or technological) that have shaped the contemporary world.
2. Describe the historical processes that have contributed significantly to global change.
3. Articulate an understanding of the histories of societies and cultures necessary to participate in an analysis of critical civic and global issues.
4. Demonstrate critical reasoning skills necessary to analyze the lived realities of power and wealth differentials between industrialized and developing areas of the world.
5. Reflect upon the nature of history itself as a product influenced by a nexus of forces, interests, and understandings, and on their own place within that historical context.

Approved Course List:

Information Literacy: Drake students will learn to acquire, analyze, interpret, and integrate information, employing appropriate technology to assist with these processes, and to understand the social and ethical implications of information use and misuse. Drake students will use appropriate sources, including library and internet resources, to process and evaluate information. Students will gain an understanding of the social and ethical issues encountered in a networked world, an ability to assess the quality of information, and learn appropriate ways to reference information sources. Students will be able to:

1. Navigate and integrate scholarly resources into their research and reflection.
2. Articulate the social and ethical implications of information use and misuse.
3. Evaluate information resources and identify quality resources relevant to the problem or issue investigated.
4. Select and employ the appropriate method and data for disciplinary research, problem-based learning, experiential-based research, and/or reflective/integrative coursework.
5. Articulate the basic implications of information use and misuse related to issues of academic honesty and plagiarism and pursue their educational goals with a high level of academic integrity.

Approved Course List:

Drake students will learn to reason with the components of symbolic and/or mathematical languages as well as effectively use the principles that govern them. Courses that satisfy this requirement will have formal representations and reasoning as their principal focus. They may also address questions that engage learners with the world around them to analyze quantitative claims that arise from the study of civic, political, scientific, or social issues. Quantitative literacy courses address the quantitative aspects of a specific discipline or an interdisciplinary issue or problem.

 Students will be able to:

1. Translate problem scenarios into formal representations and fluently execute appropriate procedures,
2. Solve problems using components from symbolic and/or mathematical languages and their underlying principles, and
3. Evaluate and analyze the implications and/or applications of the quantitative reasoning process.

Approved Course List:

Scientific literacy is crucial for understanding the issues that affect the future for all people, locally, nationally, and globally. Drake students will gain a basic understanding of content, methods, and contributions of science through courses rooted in the content of the life/behavioral and physical sciences. Through significant exposure to experiment and theory, students will be able to meaningfully interpret and evaluate scientific information for personal and professional applications as engaged citizens. All courses that fulfill this AOI will engage students to achieve basic scientific literacy; individual courses will pursue the additional outcomes as appropriate to their disciplinary or interdisciplinary focus. Drake students will complete two courses in this area of inquiry, including one in the life/behavioral sciences and one in the physical sciences. At least one course taken for this AOI will include a laboratory or field experience. Students will be able to:

1. Apply the methods of science for the generation, collection, assessment, and interpretation of scientific date and/or phenomena.
2. Use scientific methods and ways of thinking to solve problems.
3. Describe scientific theories on cognitive and behavioral, intellectual, or physical development.
4. Articulate the interrelationship of the development of human societies with the natural world around them.
5. Articulate the relevance of science to the global community in order to serve as active stewards for the natural environment.

* Special rules for courses with SMCE prefix: SMCE courses integrate physical science, life science and math. The first SMCE course may be counted toward physical science or life science, but not both. A student taking two SMCE courses will be considered to have fulfilled the physical science, life science AND quantitative requirements. SMCE courses may be taken in any order.

Approved Course List:

Drake students will learn to recognize ethical issues and to reflect critically upon the demands of conscience. They will develop as reflective practitioners with an understanding of the larger goals of stewardship inherent in their professional endeavors, and have a sense of obligation that extends to beyond the self. They will develop an understanding of the skills and knowledge necessary to anticipate the consequences of actions as well as an understanding of the dispositions necessary to develop a commitment to ethical conduct. Students will develop the basic tools required to question themselves and others in a responsible manner and to evaluate the ethical implications of both collective and personal choices.

Courses that fulfill this AOI will meet at least two of these student learning outcomes. Students will be able to:

1. Recognize and reflect critically on ethical issues.
2. Identify values that underlie human activities.
3. Articulate ethical issues that arise in their professional or civic life.
4. Articulate relevant ethical issues and apply them in developing solutions for critical problems and questions.
5. Articulate a reasoned vision of their own values or core beliefs.

Approved Course List:

Drake students will learn to read with discrimination and understanding and to write persuasively.

Drake students will learn to shape their writing according to subject, purpose, medium, context and intended audience.

This area of inquiry may be satisfied by a single course, provided that writing is a significant component of the course, significant attention is directed towards the teaching of writing, and a significant portion of the student's grade focuses on the quality of writing, independent of the subject matter.

Approved Course List: