Pre-First Year Program in WRIT/MATH/PSYC

Catalog description

In this course, students will participate in a month-long academic program that covers Writing, Math, and Psychology. The Writing course focuses mainly on writing about literature, students will learn general principles and strategies for good writing in various disciplines and genres. “Place and Belonging” will introduce students to a range of writing about the ways our social and geographical locations shape our sense of self and our personal feelings of connection or alienation. Students will read a short novel, stories, essays, and poems by authors from the U.S. and abroad. All these works are attempts to give written form to the relationships between people and the places they inhabit. The Math course will be based on a diagnostic exam and will either: cover Sets, Logic, Number Theory for students with little math experience or interest; Intense Algebra and Pre-Calc Review, Introduction to Limits for students who are may or may not be confident in their math preparation and could benefit from a review of Algebra and PreCalculus; Covers a quick Pre-Calc review, Limits, Derivatives for students who have taken AB Calculus and are confident in their performance; or Derivatives, Applications, Integrals for students who have taken BC Calculus and are confident in their performance. The Psychology course introduces students to the scientific study of human moral psychology. It will cover several topics central to our understanding of humans as moral beings, including: What is morality? What role does morality play in social life? How do people make moral judgments? Is there such a thing as true altruism? Why do people sometimes behave immorally? What is the nature of human evil (and is there such a thing)? What role does morality play in political disagreement? Lectures will provide an introductory overview of research in these and other topics, and will be accompanied…