How Did We Get Here? The Intersections of Economic and Education Inequality

Professors Guanyi Yang and Nickie Coomer

Course Description: We all have gone through years of schooling to be where we are. Reflecting on our journeys, how did we get here? Is it parental support, school district, teachers and classmates, our own effort, luck? In the United States, about 1/3 of the population (aged 25 and older) has a college degree. It is generally accepted that college education raises lifelong earnings and quality of life. But what makes college more accessible to some than others? In this class, we will survey various sources and manifestations of educational inequalities in the U.S. using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Using qualitative methods, we will investigate the ways in which education quality is shaped by student and teacher identities, and assumptions about historically marginalized communities and their relationship to property tax-based school funding models. We will also explore the overall landscape of education inequality as it relates to race, gender, and family background by extrapolating national representative surveys. Through this process, we will learn the complementary ways in which qualitative and quantitative analyses can help us understand our own educational journeys.

How Do You Know? Math You Can Count On 

Professors Beth Malmskog and Flavia Sancier-Barbosa

Course Description: Your friend claims that they can tell whether coffee was added to cream, or the cream was added to coffee. How do you know if they are telling the truth? How do you know if it’s a good idea to buy a lottery ticket today? (Surprise: sometimes it is a GREAT idea, but only if you buy a lot of them!). This course will answer these and many more questions, while introducing students to an array of simple but powerful concepts in discrete mathematics and statistics. We will discover how these ideas can deepen our understanding of the world in sometimes surprising ways. Topics include basic combinatorics, binomial coefficients, Latin squares and experimental design, probability, hypothesis testing, and p-values. This course assumes no mathematical or statistical background and does not overlap significantly with AP Stats or Calculus.

Traditional Medicine of the Southwest: Culture and Chemistry

Professors Santiago Guerra and Murphy Brasuel

Course Description:Native American and Latina/o communities in the Southwest have utilized the various plant materials available in the region for alleviating their physical and spiritual ailments. From the mundane use of ubiquitous herbs to treat stomachaches to the more exceptional use of psychoactive plants for spiritual purposes, communities in the Southwest have created a knowledge base and a cultural practice focused on the utilization of plant materials for medicinal purposes. The goal of this course is to allow students to make connections between the cultural significance and the chemical efficacy of these medicinal practices. We explore and research several of the medicinal practices of these communities, and quantify the active components of these substances using simple laboratory techniques.  In the process, students will come to better understand the culture and chemistry of traditional medicine of the Southwest. 

The Past in Popular Culture

Professors Danielle Sanchez and Bryan Rommel-Ruiz

Umwelt: The importance of worldviews in ecology, science, & our connections to nature

Professors Juan Miguel Arias and Maybellene Gamboa

Course Description: In ecological terms, an organism’s umwelt (German for “environment”) is the particular way that an organism senses, makes meaning of, and indeed “exists” in their world. Taking this concept as our starting point, this interdisciplinary course will discuss the importance of “worldview” across fields of animal behavior, ecological conservation, and critical social theory. We will explore how diverse perspectives are essential for human and non-human animals alike, touching especially on Western and Non-Western worldviews as valuable sources of knowledge. 

To enhance engagement with diverse animals, places, and people, this field-based course will provide students with an opportunity to experience different Colorado localities (e.g., Sandstone Ranch, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Denver Indigenous Community Center, etc.,). Students will practice multiple forms of knowledge production including scientific inquiry, quantitative analysis, written and verbal communication, and artistic expression. Throughout the course, we will reflect on our own unique and indispensable ways of contributing to the world and what this means for students as members of the Colorado College community.

Youth Organizing for Environmental Justice

Professors Jean Lee and Tina Valtierra

Course Description: This course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of environmental justice. Over the course of the half-block, we will create a working definition of environmental justice and examine youth-led efforts to combat environmental racism. We will identify local and global attempts to reconcile economic development with environmental protection and investigate how the resulting policies reflect systems of power. Students will apply course content to create an artifact designed to disrupt a local environmental dilemma affecting systemically marginalized youth in Colorado.