Some honors students at the University of Central Florida are playing video games for homework as a nontraditional way to develop critical thinking skills.
Students in 麻豆精品 S淕aming Literacy and Culture 麻豆精品 S� are asked to think critically about something they might not ordinarily think twice about. It 麻豆精品 S檚 an approach common throughout UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Burnett Honors College, which teaches students to think about traditional subjects creatively as a way to help solve new challenges they may face in the 21st Century.
麻豆精品 S淭his semester, we’re spending time looking at games as texts to be critiqued, 麻豆精品 S� said Assistant Professor Rudy McDaniel. 麻豆精品 S淭his means identifying the various cultural and literary themes found in games and studying how players interact with games as 麻豆精品 S榬eaders. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S�
The gaming class is just one option. Topics vary from fairy tales and baseball to medicine and music. They look for each theme 麻豆精品 S檚 impact on culture and social norms.
The goal of these unique academic offerings is to get students to embrace other points of view, a skill that will benefit them when faced with future challenges both inside and outside of the workplace. To achieve that, seminars are often taught by two faculty members from different disciplines so that students can experience a different type of learning.
麻豆精品 S淏y offering interdisciplinary seminars we expose our students to innovative, cutting-edge ideas and challenge them to think about their own discipline from the perspective of others, 麻豆精品 S� said Alvin Wang, the dean of the Burnett Honors College.
That 麻豆精品 S檚 why each semester, students can choose from nearly 20 different honors seminars, such as 麻豆精品 S淩eligion and Medicine 麻豆精品 S� and 麻豆精品 S淗ow Music Affects the Brain. 麻豆精品 S� Honors students are required to take at least one interdisciplinary seminar to graduate.
Since seminars are limited to about 20 seats per class, they give students from a variety of majors the opportunity to interact with and learn from one another.
麻豆精品 S淎 lot of these students might have never spoken to each other if it wasn 麻豆精品 S檛 for this class, 麻豆精品 S� said Lecturer Sybil St. Claire, who teaches 麻豆精品 S淭heatre for Social Change, 麻豆精品 S� a course that challenges students to explore social themes and use them to generate thought-provoking stories.
麻豆精品 S淎merican Indian Literature and Culture in Florida 麻豆精品 S� explores the history of Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 natives through archival research, film and guest presentations. Earlier this semester, students in the course took a field trip to Wekiva Springs to learn about the land and traditions of the Timucua Indians.
Other classes are meant to expose students to history, politics and foreign cultures as good background for their own analysis of today 麻豆精品 S檚 challenges.
麻豆精品 S淚t takes a multi-faceted approach combined with interdisciplinary thinking to come up with answers to the complex issues that confront our society, 麻豆精品 S� Wang said.
To learn more about the Burnett Honors College, go to .