First Year Seminars Learning Outcomes
Students in Whitman College's First Year Seminars can expect to achieve the following learning outcomes:
GENS 175: Exploring Complex Questions
Students will be able to:
- Read inquisitively and generously.
- Read with attention to detail and nuance.
- Engage with texts of varied genres and mediums.
- Formulate productive questions that guide exploration of a complex text (broadly construed).
- Use discussion as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
- Learn collaboratively with classmates and professor.
- Use writing as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
- Adapt writing to different forms, genres, and/or audience.
GENS 176: Making Powerful Arguments
Students will be able to:
- Read inquisitively and generously.
- Read with attention to detail and nuance.
- Practice respectful but rigorous debate.
- Learn collaboratively with classmates and professor.
- Use writing as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
- Develop arguable and defensible thesis statements.
- Integrate appropriate evidence to support argumentative claims.
Academics