Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

My Interdisciplinary Perspective On Climate Change [Natural Sciences], Richa Gupta, Tuli Chatterji, Tao Chen, Rebecca Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This assignment titled “My Interdisciplinary Perspective on Climate Change” was developed in Fall 2020 as the signature assignment of the STEM Learning Community LC50 for students enrolled in the Biology program of the Natural Sciences department, at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. The assignment targets Integrative Learning and Global Learning Core Competencies, and Digital/Oral Communication Abilities.

For this STEM Cluster, “Climate Change” is the shared theme that connects learning from the different disciplines and helps build students’ overall knowledge on an imperative issue that our planet currently faces. Work on this assignment entails a narrated digital student presentation on the various …

Exploring The Uses Of The Liberal Arts Through Beyoncé’S “Formation”, Christine Marks

Open Educational Resources

I first shared this assignment in LaGuardia’s Spring 2017 mini-seminar Introducing Your Discipline in the First Year Seminar. I developed the assignment drawing on both Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl halftime show and her music video “Formation” to initiate a discussion about how the Liberal Arts may inform our readings of popular culture images and performances. Through an analysis of content and form of Beyoncé’s musical performance and the video, students are invited to reflect on the ways in which a Liberal Arts education can contribute to a deeper understanding of the social issues addressed in the work. In our …

Developing Habits Of Mind For Academic Success, Ellen Quish

Open Educational Resources

The low-stakes assignment Habits of Mind for Academic Success was designed to support First Year Seminar for Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities students in developing habits of mind essential for success in college. Using Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind (HOMs) as reference, the assignment is staged and starts by prompting students to assess their current use of Habits of Mind and to identify what HOMs would be of value to them as college students. Upon completion of the individual assessment, students are introduced to examples of Habits of Mind in action through a video created for the …

Language Awareness And About Me, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

Objectives of the Assignment:

Showcase students’ skills or interests in languages other than Standard English as part of the About Me statement in the ePortfolio. The assignment addresses many students in a typical FYS classroom at LaGuardia Community College. It encourages:

• Students with a native ability in another language to see it not as a stumbling block to learning but as a resource to develop academically and professionally

• Native English speakers to explore other world languages and cultures, and to consider using their interest professionally

• All students to consider whether they have experience with a dialect or slang, texting language …

Library Treasure Hunt, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s catalog and some of the more useful subscription databases in a practical, hands-on exercise. Included are an introduction to translating database articles, instructions on accessing The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times free of charge, and how to access the databases from home.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A …

Language Awareness And The Library, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s collection of books in languages other than English, to Queens Library and the public library system, and to the Library of Congress call number system for books in the stacks.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A Library Orientation conducted by a librarian
• A Library Treasure Hunt for sources in the card …

Reflection 3 – Finding Your Purpose, Josh Goldblatt

Open Educational Resources

The assignment was used in the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities First Year Seminar (LIF 101).

The main objectives are:

1. Facilitate student self-examination and exploration of how interests, skills and values can connect to academic and professional goals
2. Build student capacity for reflective planning, including breaking out tasks and self-assessment
3. Build student knowledge of academic and career paths
4. Support students with making a decision on proper major
5. Increase engagement with college offices and staff
6. Build writing skills – including essay organization and development

Relevant student Performance Objectives for course:

1. Locate the multiple resources available at LaGuardia and use these …

Final Paper [Liberal Arts: Social Science And Humanities], Naomi J. Stubbs

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was created for LIF101 (New Student Seminar for Liberal Arts), which is a baseline course taken by students (typically in their first semester) in Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities (including the options) and Fine Arts. Students in this course have wide-ranging abilities, given that they may be in ESL or have transferred in advanced writing courses. As such, the final assignment needs to serve the goals of the course while not penalizing students for having lower abilities in writing and research. Similarly, the integrative learning rubric has several very different dimensions, and connecting them all in one …

Co-Curricular Report 1: Roundtable Discussion, Robin Bromley

Open Educational Resources

This assignment is designed for First Year Seminar -- Liberal Arts: Humanities and Social Science majors.

The main course objectives addressed are that students:

• Demonstrate engagement in the life of the college and their use of key academic support services, advisement, and co-curricular organizations and activities critical to meeting those goals.
• Show growing mastery of the writing, reading, and speaking skills, as well as the study and management strategies essential for college success.

The primary purposes of this written and oral report are to encourage students to discover and use the campus resources and co-curricular opportunities critical for their success …

Reading A Scholarly Publication, Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

LIF 101, Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities

This assignment was designed to reintroduce students to library resources and to give students an opportunity to examine scholarly publications in parts and in detail, without the pressure of using the article in a formal research paper, or having to understand the entire article.

To prepare for this assignment, we started class with a writing exercise to answer, “what makes something scholarly?” All responses were written on the board; together we identified common ideas that came up more than once. I added to their responses with a short lecture about the information …

Who Am I? Degreeworks Edition, Jesse Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

Designed for LIF101: Liberal Arts First Year Seminar, “Who Am I? DegreeWorks Edition” is developed with the intention to help students (and maybe also their professors!) navigate Pathways [a system of general education requirements and transfer guidelines designed to ease student transfer between CUNY colleges] facilitate advising, and understand general degree expectations. By projecting an actual DegreeAudit in class, students better understand academic requirements as well as their academic profile within CUNY.

The entire assignment takes one to two hours of class time, and then a further two to three hours for students to complete on their own. Obviously, as …

Lif101 Final Project: My Guide To Success, Ellen Quish

Open Educational Resources

Overview: This project is an opportunity for LIF101 students to reflect on their first semester at LaGuardia, to review what they’ve learned in the First Year Seminar for the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities, and to create a plan that serves as a resource for their academic and professional success moving forward. My Guide to Success requires students to think carefully about their time at LaGuardia and be intentional in planning their next steps through graduation, and beyond. The paper is worth 15 points out of 100.

Reflection In The First Year Seminar: Moving Beyond The Single Story, Christine Marks

Open Educational Resources

This series of in-class and at home reflective assignments was designed for the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities First Year Seminar. Drawing on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story” and the chapter “Citizens of the World” from Martha Nussbaum’s Not for Profit, students begin to develop an understanding of the role of the liberal arts in moving towards a more complex perception of cultural differences across the world. They also reflect on their own biases and experiences during the first semester. Students write the first reflection after discussing the TED talk and the …

Setting Goals Paper, Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was designed to help students bring together the multiple threads of the First Year Seminar; students contextualize their past, present, and future stories within their personal, academic, and career goals. This assignment asked students to revise the writing they’ve done in past ePortfolio reflections, incorporate outside information from a range of sources, and plan out a realistic path for achieving their goals at LaGuardia and beyond.

Students are prepared for this assignment throughout the semester:

• In week 2, we talk about the value of the personal narrative via the About Me reflection for ePortfolio. Why does your past …

Neighborhood Research Essay, Dominique Zino

Open Educational Resources

The following “Neighborhood Research Paper” assignment has been used in LIF 101 for Social Science and Humanities students, but could be adapted to give students the chance to practice disciplinary thinking in a variety of fields. The main objectives of the assignment are

1. to give students the chance to engage with guided secondary and primary source research by using key resources on campus, especially the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives and the Library;
2. to help students practice fundamental writing and critical thinking skills (summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, synthesis, analysis);
3. to give students a chance to conduct preliminary ethnographic research (i.e. field notes, …

The Value Of Libraries And Identifying Information Needs [Library], Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in LIF 101 – Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities who attend a 1-hour library session. The focus of this session and assignment is “information.”

Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. This session will help students engage with these values, positioning the library as a welcoming and accessible space, librarians as guides and translators of modern information landscapes, and library resources as a way to participate in disciplinary conversations and …

Cultural Competency In Health Sciences [Library], Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in HSF 090- Health Sciences who attend a 1-hour library session. The focus of this session and assignment is “research as inquiry.”

Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field. Students will practice this iterative process by experimenting with the trial and error necessary in the research process as they repeat and refine their searches. They will be encouraged to explore the way cultural competence changes depending on their field or topic focus.

This session will …

Exploring Careers And Industry Problems [Library], Galina Letnikova

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in ECF 090- Engineering and Computer Science who attend a 1-hour library session. This session will give students the chance to develop integrative learning skills by connecting their prospective field with academic research.

LaGuardia’s Core Competencies and Communication Abilities

Main Course Learning Objectives:

• Students will be introduced to the concept of library academic resources
• Students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of information

Evaluating Reliability In Resources [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in CJF 101 Criminal Justice who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Integrative and Global Learning core competencies.

This session seeks to introduce students to critical evaluation as the important skill that involves questioning different elements of an information resource to determine its authority on the topic it addresses. Students will practice this process by engaging in a discussion about the reliability of a specific resource. They will be encouraged to contribute to an in depth evaluation of a resource as a group.

This session will give students the …

Library Science Strategies For Natural Sciences [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in NSF 100 Natural Sciences who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving and Integrative core competencies in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration.”

Strategy and exploration are the keys to effective research. Students often mistake academic research as similar to “Googling.” This session will stress the importance of mastering the research process in an academic context. It will encourage students to become familiar with the diverse tools and resources provided by the library.

This session will give students a quick outline of …

Personal Narrative, Part I Of The Research Project [Psychology], Dušana Podlucká

Open Educational Resources

This assignment is the first in a series of assignments of the semester-long research project. The main goal of this assignment is to introduce students into the project and its theme (Becoming a LaGuardia college student). In the next step students conduct a simple analysis of their personal narratives, i.e. data they generated using a simple analytical tool based on concept of college readiness developed by David Conley (2008). In this first step of the project students were prompted through a series of questions to explore and reflect on their motivation for going to college, their future goals and aspirations, …

Concept Mapping For Focused Paper Topics [Library], Ian Mcdermott

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in SYF 101 Psychology who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving core competency in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration” and the Integrative Learning core competency in terms of analyzing “Scholarship as a Conversation.”

In the first of two parts, this session will focus on building subject knowledge and finding background information in encyclopedias. Students will learn how encyclopedias can offer different perspectives on the same topic; they will also create an APA citation for an encyclopedia entry. In order to gain …

Library Science Strategies For Liberal Arts: Math And Science [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in LMF 101- Math and Science who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving and Integrative core competencies in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration.”

Strategy and exploration are the keys to effective research. Students often mistake academic research as similar to “Googling.” This session will stress the importance of mastering the research process in an academic context. It will encourage students to become familiar with the diverse tools and resources provided by the library.

This session will give students a quick outline …

Profiling The Global Impact Of A Company [Library], Steven Ovadia

Open Educational Resources

This assignment, as part of a 1-hour library session, was developed for students in BTF 101- Business. The Inquiry and Problem, Integrative Learning, and Global Learning core competencies inform the content of the session. Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops. Business research frequently relies on using often-expensive information products to gain or protect some sort of market advantage or position. This lesson will introduce students to the idea that information is a valuable and essential tool for …