Goals

Long-term:

• • A year or more after this class is over, I hope that all students will be able to critically evaluate claims about human nature, understanding that our genes are expressed through our social and physical environment, and recognizing that much of what we consider “inherent” to our biology is actually a reflection of our culture, because we have evolved to be flexible rather than to follow rigid rules of behavior. (In other words, when you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with your least-favorite cousin, you should be able to intelligently debunk the latest media claims about race, gender, or overall human nature.)

Foundational Knowledge: Students should be able to correctly explain, in their own words, the following key concepts:

• • Scientific method in the observational sciences (fields such as anthropology, evolutionary biology, ecology, and astronomy)

  • Culture

  • Evolutionary theory

  • The influence of both environment and genetics (humans as "naturenurtural")

  • The human adaptation/niche

Application: Students should be able to:

• • work "hands-on" with materials that tell us about human adaptation and evolution (fossils, biometric data, etc.)

  • create and evaluate scientific arguments and evidence

  • critically evaluate scientific arguments about fundamental human nature (based on race, gender, our hunter-gatherer past, etc.)

  • find and be able to summarize multiple perspectives on key topics like race, gender, and culture

Human Dimension Over the course of the semester, students should:

• • identify and list what about themselves is shared with all people around the world, and what is unique to their cultural perspective.

  • develop their feelings of empathy for, interest in, and connection to people around the world.

  • recognize where their own cultural filters are affecting their interpretation of the world around them.

  • develop their skepticism for claims that biologically-based differences between people of different races, genders, etc., override culturally and contextually determined differences.

Integration: Students should take from this class a set of ideas and skills that can be applied outside of the course, including:

• • Students should be able to apply evolutionary theory to all the topics in this course, as well as topics in other relevant courses (such as biology, philosophy, pseudo-scientific arguments in political science and economics, etc.)

  • Discussions of human diversity and evolution that take place in other classes (history, political science, psychology, etc.) should be informed by the anthropological understanding of human differences in a broader context.

  • Science never takes place in a cultural vacuum. Students should recognize that the cultural context of scientific endeavors affects interpretations, even on topics that are less emotionally charged than defining ourselves as a species.

This course helps fulfill the following UMM Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World through:

• Core studies in the liberal arts: arts, histories, humanities, languages, mathematics, sciences, and

social sciences

• Engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

2. Intellectual and Practical Skills, practiced extensively across students’ college experiences, including:

• Inquiry and analysis

• Critical thinking and problem-solving

• Written, multi-media, and oral communication

• Quantitative literacy

3. An Understanding of the Roles of Individuals in Society, through active involvement with diverse

communities and challenges, including:

• Intercultural knowledge and competence

This course helps fulfill the following Anthropology Program Student Learning Outcomes: