Service-Learning Courses at Denison

 Fall, 2009 Courses

Biology 327-01                  Biology of Insects   
Tom Shultz

This course will explore the world of insects and their interactions with other species. Our central focus will be to survey insect diversity and explore how various orders, families, and species are adapted through evolution to their specific environment. But we will also use that diversity as a lens through which we will examine major concepts in biology. Topics of discussion will be drawn from readings in Nature, Science, and the primary literature will include the following: plant-insect coevolution, mating systems, anti-predator defenses, eusocial behavior, parasitism, disease transmittance, insect conservation, and control of agricultural pests. Laboratory will include field studies of insects at the Denison University Biological Reserve and the preparation of a collection. This course includes a service learning component.

Biology 356-01                  Diversity of Microorganisms
Chris Weingart 

This course will examine the remarkable environmental, physiological, and metabolic diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms and viruses. More specifically, diversity will be studied in terms of taxonomy and phylogeny, the ability of species to live in various environments, and the application and value of genomics in diversity. Emphasis will be placed on the reading of primary literature, and using that information to make connections with class lectures and generate hypotheses that will be tested in the laboratory. The structure of the course will include traditional lectures, class activities, and student presentations, and includes a service learning component.

Communication 215-04     The Hidden Curriculum
Lisbeth Lipari

This course is a Service Learning Course, Cross-Listed with Education. The objective of this course is to study the relationship between classroom communication and structures of inequity in public education. Building on work in communication, sociolinguistics and education studies, Denison students will explore how hidden assumptions about classroom language and literacy practices construct and maintain dominant cultural formations, social identities, and power relations.  In the service-learning component, Denison students will explore the ways in which tacit assumptions and understandings about everyday communication and instructional discourse manifest in the academic experiences of high school students in Newark, Ohio. Each Denison student will be paired with a Newark High School student who may be at risk for not achieving his or her academic, personal and/or interpersonal potential, and they  will  work together for one-on-one tutoring and mentoring.

Communication 403-01     Culture and Communication  
Amanda Gunn

This seminar takes a historical and critical approach to understand the role communication plays in creating various cultural experiences. Major theories on culture and race are examined. Topics include: How can we best understand and study the construct "culture?" What does "American culture" mean within a pluralistic and diverse society? How are different cultural voices created, heard or erased? How is "America" constructed from international scholars' perspectives? This course has a service learning component.

Economics 301                   Intermediate Macroeconomics
Fadhel Kaboub

An examination of the determinants of Gross Domestic Product, the unemployment rate and the price level. The components of aggregate spending consumption, investment, foreign trade and government will be examined to determine their significance for explaining the business cycle. Similarly the financial side of the economy and the role of money will be examined to determine their impact on the business cycle. The purpose of each examination is to understand the factors that move the economy and how fiscal and monetary policy can be used to alter the course of economic trends.This course includes a service learning component.

Economics 411                   Monetary Theory
Fadhel Kaboub

The role money plays in determining economic outcomes, such as the level of employment, the aggregate price level, and the rate of economic growth, is one of the more controversial issues in economics. To get a handle on these controversies, this course explores the institutional structure of the U.S. monetary system, including the Federal Reserve, the body charged with the conduct of U.S. monetary policy. Then, the course compares and contrasts different perspectives on the role money plays in economic activity. The goal is to combine knowledge of the institutional structure of the U.S. monetary system with an understanding of the various theoretical perspectives on monetary theory in order to gain some insight into the difficult issues facing the conduct of successful monetary policy. This course builds towards simulated Federal Reserve Open Market Committee Meetings, in which students will form their own opinions about the influence monetary policy has on the rates of inflation, unemployment, economic growth and the distribution of income. This course includes a service learning component.

Education 312-01               Literacy and Learning
Lyn Roberston

The purpose of this course is to examine reading and writing development from emergent to mature stages. Emphasis is on theories of reading and writing, approaches for solving problems related to these processes, and teaching students to read and write critically. The course includes a service learning component.

Soc/Anth 350-01                Field Research Methods
Mary Tuominen

In this course students investigate how anthropologists and sociologists approach and analyze social life. We study a variety of field research methods that sociologists and anthropologists use to gather information, and analyze that data on which they base their claims about societies and cultures. We are particularly attentive to research design, data collection, and analyses used in interviewing and participant observation. Throughout our study we will maintain a critical perspective. That is, we will stay alert to the problems and limitations (as well as the strengths) of various field research methods. This course includes a service learning component.

Psyc 210-01                        Development in Infancy and Childhood
Gina Dow

Psychological development through late childhood and preadolescence. Topics covered include biological foundations, prenatal development, infancy, cognitive and language development, personality and social and emotional development (including attachment, development of self concept, peer relations, gender differences), family and social policy issues, and developmental psychopathology. This course includes a service learning component.



Service-Learning Courses From Previous Terms

Click on a listing to see information about classes from previous terms.

+ Service Learning Courses, Spring 2009

Soc/Anth 350 Field Research Methods                             Mary Tuominen
In this course students investigated a variety of field research methods used by anthropologists and sociologists to analyze social life.  In order to both understand and learn to apply these methods, the  course was organized around a collaborative community research project with the Licking County Coalition for Housing.

ENGL-356-01 Narrative Black America                           Jack Shuler
This course explored the resonance of the Atlantic slave trade and of plantation slavery in the United States of America.  Through the collection of and analysis of oral histories from residents of  Newark Health Care, we asked ourselves where the written text intersects with the unspeakable.

COMM-225-01  US Broadcasting History and Theory   Bill Kirkpatrick
This course offered a broad overview of significant broadcast programs, the institutions that created them, and the social conditions within which they were produced and viewed. This course also included a service-learning component, requiring students to participate in a class service project at the LPN Center.

+ Service Learning Courses, Fall 2008

ARTH-262   Sustainable Urban Landscape                         Karl Sandin
The seminar explored interconnected urban/architectural design, diversity, and equity issues involved in any attempt to reconstruct our devastated North American inner-city areas sustainably. Students worked on-site in Newark, Ohio with the East Main Street Urban Visioning Project.

ARTS-265    Printmaking as Activism                                  Ron Abram
The objective of this course was to reveal students' artistic, political and expressive potential through the production of printmaking that engaged local, national and international issues with the public of Denison, Granville, Newark and Columbus.

Comm-306   Organizational Culture                                     Amanda Gunn
This course explored the constitutive nature of communication by investigating an existing organizational culture through an application of communication concepts and theories, cultural studies theories, and qualitative research methods at numerous sites in Newark.

Econ-101      Introductory Macroeconomics                         Fadhel Kaboub
An introduction to the study of the aggregate national economy. Students participated in a variety of service projects with non-profit organizations in Newark.

Educ-312      Literacy and Learning:Theory and Practice    Lyn Roberson
This course examined reading and writing development from emergent to mature stages. Students worked on-site at the Granville Child Care Center.

FYS-102        Second Hand Lives                                           Laurel Kennedy  
This course examined the question of how our homes have shaped us as individuals, and what it means in socio-cultural, economic, and developmental terms to have a home, or not. The class engaged in a Habitat for Humanity project.

Psyc-210        Development in Infancy and Childhood          Gina Dow
This course explored psychological development through late childhood and preadolescence.

Soc/Anth-313  Non-Nuclear Families                                     Mary Tuominen
Working on-site with New Beginnings, Salvation Army and Legal Aid, this seminar explored the ways in which race, ethnicity, social class and sexuality shape family/kinship structures in and beyond the contemporary U.S.

+ Service Learning Courses, Spring 2008

Comm/221         Theories of Group Communication                                      Cassandra Secrease-Dixon

Educ/421            Senior Seminar in Eeducation                                             Lyn Robertson

Germ/302           Reading and Reacting in the Wake of the Holocaust           Leo Riegert

Span/323            Hispanic Culture through Service-Learning                         Dosinda Garcia-Alvite

+ Service Learning Courses, Fall 2007 - Fall 2003

Fall, 2007
Arth 259         Classical Traditions in Urbanism and Built Form       Karl Sandin
Educ 312        Literacy and Learning                                              Lyn Robertson
Psyc 210        Infancy and  Child Development                              Gina Dow

Spring, 2007
Educ 390        Critical Pedagogy                                                      Lyn Robertson
FYS 102         The Ethics of Care                                                    Alexandra Bradner

Fall, 2006
Educ 390        Critical Pedagogy                                                    Jerrell Beckham
FYS 102         Culture of Survival                                                  Karl Sandin
Psyc 210         Infancy and Child Development                              Gina Dow

Spring, 2006
FYS 102         Making a Difference                                               Mary Tuominen
Psyc 202         Field Experience in Psychology                               Robert Weiss
Span 211        Intermediate Spanish                                               Dosinda Garcia-Alvite 

Fall, 2005
FYS 102       Culture of Survival                                                    Karl Sandin
FYS 102       Economics of Wealth and Poverty                            Andrea Ziegert
FYS 102       Second Hand Lives                                                  Laurel Kennedy
HNRS.189/   Critical Pedagogy                                                     Lyn Robertson
Educ 390/
WMST 301
Psyc 301       Seminar in Child Development                                 Gina Dow 

Spring, 2005
Soc/Anth 313   Families, Sexuality & the State                              Mary Tuominen
Econ 302         Intermediate Microeconomic Theory                     Andrea Ziegert

Fall, 2004
FYS 101         Thinking, Writing, Acting                                       Marlene Tromp
FYS 102         Justice, Rights and Property                                   Edwin England
FYS 102         Social Service, Social Change                                Mary Tuominen
Psyc  210        Development in Inf & Childhood                            Gina Dow

Spring, 2004
Arts 110           Drawing                                                               Ron Abram

Fall, 2003
Educ 390/        Critical Pedagogy                                                  Lyn Robertson
WMST 390
FYS 101          Words and Ideas                                                  Richard Hood
FYS 102          Second Hand Lives                                              Laurel Kennedy
FYS 102          Social Service & Change                                      Mary Tuominen
Psyc 210         Child and Adolescent Development                       Gina Dow