Core Curriculum Requirements
The Core Curriculum guides learning across all majors within Lasell's unique connected learning environment. With its emphasis on multidisciplinary thinking, inquiry, ethical reasoning, and problem-solving, the Core provides the basis for the skills and breadth of knowledge students need to succeed in the working world.
CORE CURRICULUM REQUIRED COURSES
Foundational Requirements:
- FYS 103 First Year Seminar (3)
- ENG 101 Writing I (3)
- ENG 102 Writing II (3)
- MATH 106 Algebraic Operations (3)
Knowledge Perspectives
- Aesthetics & Creativity (3)
- Global & Historical (3)
- Individuals & Society (3)
- Scientific Reasoning & Problem-Solving (3)
Quantitative Literacy Requirement (3-4 determined by major)
Multidisciplinary Experience (MDSC203) (3)
Ethical Reasoning (PHIL302) (3)
Writing-Intensive courses (6)
Speaking-Intensive courses (6)
Total minimum Core Curriculum Credits (45)
The Core Curriculum is made up of inquiry-based courses and internship and capstone experiences, creating a common core learning experience for students each year. As the courses increase in depth and complexity, students develop knowledge, skills, and ownership of their education, and create the habits of lifelong intellectual exploration and social responsibility. Students earn 45 credits for courses taken within the Core Curriculum.
The theme-based First Year Seminar emphasizes the core intellectual skills, while providing an introduction to the knowledge perspectives; connected learning projects and challenging class assignments incorporate synthesis and application.
In the first year, students also complete a self-paced, technology-enhanced mathematics course and take two courses focused on writing skills. Students build on the skills in writing and quantitative literacy established in these foundational courses in two writing-intensive courses within the major and an additional mathematics course, often also within the major. In addition, two speaking-intensive courses within the major focus on oral presentation and speaking skills.
Four courses taken during the first two years engage students in understanding and solving problems they will encounter in their professional and personal lives from four different Knowledge Perspectives: Aesthetics and Creativity, Scientific Inquiry and Problem Solving, Global and Historical Perspectives, and Individuals and Society.
A Multidisciplinary Experience course, usually taken in the sophomore year, introduces a social or intellectual problem (such as sustainable cities) that cannot be addressed from a single knowledge perspective. Faculty guide students through a critical thinking process that crosses traditional disciplinary lines.
The Ethical Reasoning course, usually taken in the junior year, challenges students to analyze and grapple with real, current moral dilemmas, and their complex ethical solutions, by connecting cultural and historical ways of understanding ethical thinking with professional standards. In their last two years, students further integrate the Knowledge Perspectives, refine the Core Intellectual Skills, and practice high-level Synthesis and Application in courses within their majors. The Capstone and Internship Experiences serve as the culmination of the Core Curriculum where students experience the highest level of connection between Core and Department outcomes, skills, and knowledge.