Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

It has become increasingly important to encourage in students a sense of civic engagement and the realization that they are global citizens. Well-designed interdisciplinary courses can aid in these goals by bringing about an enhanced global understanding and a greater willingness to engage in the world beyond students’ sometimes narrow boundaries. One such course addressed a range of global issues through the lenses of biology, history, education, and psychology. These fields were used to explore HIV/AIDS, the teaching of evolution, and the use of intelligence tests. This course underwent several revisions to ultimately focus on one specific topic; HIV/AIDS. The second course grew out of a realization that students often have little awareness of historical and contemporary genocides and their contributory factors beyond the Holocaust. Both the HIV/AIDS course and the Genocides course will be described and analyzed in terms of course design strategies, student learning, and ongoing curricular revisions.