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2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
General Education Program
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Mission:
The mission of the General Education Program (GEP) at Winona State University is to provide a broad base of skills and knowledge to prepare students for informed, responsible citizenship in a changing world.
Definition:
The Winona State University General Education Program (GEP) incorporates the ten Goal Areas of the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC) as well as Additional Requirements. More information about WSU’s GEP can be found on the General Education Program website.
The WSU GEP includes:
Core Goal Areas
- Goal 1: Communication
- Goal 2: Critical Thinking
- Goal 3: Natural Science
- Goal 4: Mathematics/Logical Reasoning
- Goal 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Goal 6: The Humanities and Fine Arts
Theme Goal Areas:
- Goal 7: Human Diversity
- Goal 8: Global Perspectives
- Goal 9: Ethical and Civic Responsibility
- Goal 10: People and the Environment
Additional Requirement Categories:
- Intensives
- △Writing
- ◎Oral Communications
- ◆Mathematics/Statistics OR Critical Analysis
- ✽ Physical Development and Wellness
Overview:
The program provides opportunities for students to evaluate critically their cultural and social inheritance, to think scientifically in both the natural and social environments, to think beyond cultural boundaries, and to experience the arts and humanities. It also enhances reasoning, analytical, and communication skills that students will need to perform well in a wide range of occupations and post-baccalaureate programs. Students will explore how making intellectual, social, cultural, and economic connections among these diverse areas of skill and knowledge enhances their ability to live well and ethically in the contemporary world. The GEP thereby distinguishes a Winona State University degree from a technical or occupational training program certificate.
Upon successful completion of the GEP, students should be able to demonstrate the following characteristics of a university graduate:
- Ability to read, write, and speak appropriate English at levels significantly above that which is expected of a high school graduate
- Knowledge of the various ways in which information is produced, gathered, processed, and used
- Ability to reason, understand, and manipulate ideas or numbers
- Knowledge of various forms of human expression (written, oral, artistic, physical)
- Knowledge of and sensitivity toward those aspects of life and the environment that are common to all life as well as those aspects that display diversity
- Willingness to accept appropriate responsibilities and to practice freedom, justice, and equality for all
- Commitment to lifelong learning and cultivation of intellectual curiosity
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General Education Program Requirements
Core Goal Areas (40 S.H.)
Courses in the ten Goal Areas must demonstrate that they fulfill at least 51% of the specified competencies. Goal Area 1: Communication (7 S.H.)
Goal: To develop writers and speakers who use the English language effectively and who read, write, speak, and listen critically. As a base, all students should complete introductory communication requirements early in their collegiate studies. Writing competency is an ongoing process to be reinforced through writing-intensive courses and writing across the curriculum. Speaking and listening skills need reinforcement through multiple opportunities for interpersonal communication, public speaking, and discussion.
Student Competencies: Students will be able to:
- Understand/demonstrate the writing and speaking processes through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing and presentation
- Participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding
- Locate, evaluate, and synthesize in a responsible manner material from diverse sources and points of view
- Select appropriate communication choices for specific audiences
- Construct logical and coherent arguments
- Use authority, point-of-view, and individual voice and style in their writing and speaking
- Employ syntax and usage appropriate to academic disciplines and the professional world
Note: Courses meeting more than one Goal Area will be listed under both Goal areas. The GEP current course list is updated continuously. Communication Studies (CMST)
Goal Area 2: Critical Thinking
(This goal is fulfilled automatically when all of the other goal areas are completed.)
Goal: To develop thinkers who are able to unify factual, creative, rational, and value-sensitive modes of thought. Critical thinking will be taught and used throughout the general education curriculum in order to develop students’ awareness of their own thinking and problem-solving procedures. To integrate new skills into their customary ways of thinking, students must be actively engaged in practicing thinking skills and applying them to open-ended problems.
Student Competencies: Students will be able to:
- Gather factual information and apply it to a given problem in a manner that is relevant, clear, comprehensive, and conscious of possible bias in the information selected
- Imagine and seek out a variety of possible goals, assumptions, interpretations, or perspectives which can give alternative meanings or solutions to given situations or problems
- Analyze the logical connections among the facts, goals, and implicit assumptions relevant to a problem or claim; generate and evaluate implications that follow from them
- Recognize and articulate the value assumptions which underlie and affect decisions, interpretations, analyses, and evaluations made by ourselves and others
Goal Area 3: Natural Sciences (7 S.H.)
Requires one course with lab and encourages courses from at least two different subject areas.
Goal: To improve students’ understanding of natural science principles and of the methods of scientific inquiry, i.e., the ways in which scientists investigate natural science phenomena. As a basis for lifelong learning, students need to know the vocabulary of science and to realize that while a set of principles has been developed through the work of previous scientists, ongoing scientific inquiry and new knowledge will bring changes in some of the ways scientists view the world. By studying the problems that engage today’s scientists, students learn to appreciate the importance of science in their lives and to understand the value of a scientific perspective. Students are encouraged to study both the biological and physical sciences.
Student Competencies: Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of scientific theories
- Formulate and test hypotheses by performing laboratory, simulation, or field experiments in at least two of the natural science disciplines. One of these experimental components should develop, in greater depth, students, laboratory experience in the collection of data, its statistical and graphical analysis, and an appreciation of its sources of error and uncertainty
- Communicate their experimental findings, analyses, and interpretations both orally and in writing
- Evaluate societal issues from a natural science perspective, ask questions about the evidence presented, and make informed judgments about science-related topics and policies
Note: Courses meeting more than one Goal Area will be listed under both Goal areas. This list will be continuously updated throughout the term of this catalog at the WSU General Education Program Page. Goal Area 4: Mathematics/Logical Reasoning (3-4 S.H.)
Goal: To increase students’ knowledge about mathematical and logical modes of thinking. This will enable students to appreciate the breadth of applications of mathematics, evaluate arguments, and detect fallacious reasoning. Students will learn to apply mathematics, logic, and\or statistics to help them make decisions in their lives and careers. Minnesota’s public higher education systems have agreed that developmental mathematics includes the first three years of a high school mathematics sequence through intermediate algebra.
Student Competencies: Students will be able to:
- Illustrate historical and contemporary applications of mathematical/logical systems
- Clearly express mathematical/logical ideas in writing
- Explain what constitutes a valid mathematical/logical argument (proof)
- Apply higher-order problem-solving and/or modeling strategies
Note: Courses meeting more than one Goal Area will be listed under both Goal areas. This list will be continuously updated throughout the term of this catalog at the WSU General Education Program Page. Goal Area 5: History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences (9 S.H.)
Requires courses from at least two different subject areas.
Goal: To increase students’ knowledge of how historians and social and behavioral scientists discover, describe, and explain the behaviors and interactions among individuals, groups, institutions, events, and ideas. Such knowledge will better equip students to understand themselves and the roles they play in addressing the issues facing humanity.
Student Competencies: Students will be able to:
- Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition
- Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures
- Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories
- Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues
Note: Courses meeting more than one Goal Area will be listed under both Goal areas. This list will be continuously updated throughout the term of this catalog at the WSU General Education Program Page. Child Advocacy Studies (CAST)
Communication Studies (CMST)
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