The transition from high school classes to college coursework is a considerable one. To help facilitate the adjustment, all first-year students at Pomona enroll in the Critical Inquiry Seminar.
Also known as ID1, the semester-long classes are interdisciplinary in nature and have about 15 students per section. Though they vary by subject, they share an emphasis on developing critical thinking, writing and speaking skills.
We talked to five faculty members about the sections they are teaching.
Can We Afford to Be Healthy? The Economics of Being Well
Neva Novarro, visiting assistant professor of economics, teaches an upper-division health economics course and was eager to adapt the class for non-economics majors.
“The basic concepts are accessible and important for everyone: ideas like incentives, trade-offs and resource allocation,” says Novarro.
Through a variety of media, students are learning about the economic forces that shape the country’s healthcare. They are reading chapters from textbooks as well as accessible economics books like Freakonomics, articles from The New Yorker and The New York Times, and research papers in the field. Podcasts and videos are also on the syllabus to help students understand current healthcare news.
“Health policy is such a big part of our country right now,” says Novarro. “It’s good to be able to critically evaluate different policies that come out.”
In addition to short writing assignments ahead of every class meeting, students are also tackling three longer papers. The first is an op-ed piece in which students can write about any topic related to health, health care or health policy. The second is a comparative analysis paper looking at two countries and their health care systems. Last is a research-informed health policy proposal addressed to their senator.
Novarro says that the class has been highly enjoyable.
“When I teach economics, I usually spend a lot more time lecturing,” she says. “This kind of discussion format, sitting around the table, throwing ideas back and forth, getting students to question each other instead of me, I love it. It’s fun.”
Thinking About Thinking
Andrew Law, assistant professor of philosophy, says his class seeks to answer three main questions: “How should we humans be reasoning or thinking?” “How, in fact, do we humans reason or think?” and “What do we do in light of the gap between those?”
Students are approaching those questions not only from a philosophy angle but also from the perspectives of psychology, cognitive science and economics.
They began the semester by reading the book Thinking, Fast and Slow in which the author distinguishes between two ways of thinking: quick, intuitive snap judgments and more laborious, less efficient processing.
“When there is a gap between how we’re thinking and how we should be thinking, it’s usually because we’re relying on the first way of thinking when we should be using the second,” says Law.
Each week, the class focuses on a different reasoning skill. Students will apply these skills to analyzing arguments from a wide range of sources, including academic articles, popular speeches, op-ed pieces and social media content.
Regardless of discipline, Law says, the ability to read carefully and reason is crucial. Philosophy, he adds, is one of the best ways to gain those skills.
“Selfishly, I hope that students in the class come to see how fun philosophy can be, how practical it can be,” he says.
The Secular Divine
Together with students in the class, Taylor McAdam, visiting assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, is eagerly delving into the many ways in which humans have experiences of transcendence and meaningfulness outside of religious contexts.
“We’re all going to be learning and exploring this together,” she told her class at the beginning of the semester.
Students first looked at research in psychology and sociology to understand the functions spirituality serves on both individual and societal levels.
After surveying a variety of religious practices, the class is now examining ways people seek profound experiences outside of religion. Modules on the syllabus include music, math and science, nature, sports, psychedelics and community—all as ways that people might have spiritual experiences.
“I want them to see a lot of different disciplines,” says McAdam, “and investigate this phenomenon from every possible angle.”
McAdam also wants her course to be an introduction to resources on campus. To that end, the art unit will include a visit to the Benton Museum of Art Pomona College to view a specially curated collection of pieces, while the nature section will send students to the Pomona College Organic Farm to practice “very attentive observation and close attention,” says McAdam.
Ultimately, McAdam says her hope is that students will gain “a better understanding of the many different ways people find meaning” as well as “what brings meaning to their own lives so they can prioritize those things.”
Exploring Japan Through Films and Animations
Yuki Arita, associate professor of Asian languages and literatures, typically teaches Japanese language classes, and since Japanese films are an important linguistic teaching tool for her, she thought pivoting to teaching about modern Japanese society through films would be a good fit for an ID1 class.
Students are watching one film per week, with the films falling into four thematic units, each looking at how Japanese culture and society have been shaped by those elements.
Tokyo Story, a classic black-and-white film from 1953, kicked off the unit on family and was followed by Like Father, Like Son and My Neighbor Totoro.
Class discussions have been enriched by the diverse set of students, says Arita. Both domestic and international students all contribute from their distinct cultural backgrounds and experiences.
The class will also focus on themes of Shinto and Buddhism, food, and social issues. Arita anticipates that students will not only deepen their understanding of Japanese culture but of their own cultures as well.
“I hope that students see not just the differences but also similarities to their own culture and become more accepting of diversity,” says Arita.
Stoked: The Politics, Poetics, and History of Surfing
“This course is an exercise in thinking and writing about an enterprise that some call a sport, some call art, some call a capitalist industry, some call religion, and some call a nuisance,” Professor of Politics Heather Williams, who researches global water politics, writes in the syllabus.
To probe the question, “Is surfing trivial, transcendent or troubling?” this semester, students are learning from physical science, social science and humanities sources: book excerpts, newspaper articles, YouTube videos, movie screenings.
Students are tracing the history of surfing, from its origins in Polynesia and West Africa to its modern forms. One of the first books they read is Waves of Resistance, which looks at the ways native Hawaiian surfers have combated colonialism.
They will also learn the physics of surfing—what causes ocean waves and how surfboards work—as well as California surfer dialect and surfer subculture.
Through the various writing assignments, Williams hopes students will gain confidence to express their opinions.
“People have to believe they have a voice that’s worth listening to,” says Williams. “That’s what we can do through the liberal arts. ID1 is so critical in giving people the courage and conviction to find their own voice.”