Courses

This course introduces students to the methods and theories of cultural anthropology, one of four sub-disciplines in American Anthropology. Anthropology is a diverse field of different theoretical approaches as well as techniques for collecting and analyzing data that help us understand the human experience. This course will present students with some of the diversity of cultural anthropological studies from the past and the present. Key issues we examine in this class include culture, identity, family, race, religion, gender, violence, language, nationality, globalization, and power. Our ultimate goal is to better appreciate the influence of cultural processes in the making of our lived realities, and to discover what it means to be human. Anthropology courses complement all majors.

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business or being your own boss? Students will have the opportunity to work on their own business ideas with guidance from the instructor, peers, and our Innovation Incubator. Students will benefit from campus field trips to our Career Center, eSports Lab, and Cultural Centers to augment their journey of self-discovery to unlock the entrepreneur inside each of us. This course is of value to all majors.

Introduction to dance as an art form through viewing dance films, class discussions, and analysis of diverse dance styles. Develop an appreciation of dance as a form of communication and personal expression and understand how dance reflects and comments upon contemporary society.

This course will observe the physical world around us, with a strong influence of environmental sustainability. Study of plate tectonics, the rock cycle and oceanic processes as they relate to earthquakes, volcanoes, climate change and other earth phenomena. Students will learn about rock and mineral identification. The course has wide-ranging applications in commerce, public policy, the natural world and science.

How do the communities and places you come from shape your identity and vice versa? How does living and learning in the City of Angels shape you as a thinker, reader, and writer? This course uses reading and writing about place and identity to:

• Introduce students to key concepts in writing studies
• Deepen metacognitive skills
• Increase a sense of belonging
• Develop growing academic identities

This course offers students 3 GE units in Area E—Lifelong Learning—and also prepares students for success in first-year composition and all courses that require writing at DH!

In this course, students will investigate how various social systems and fields of study have impacts on the growth and development of children and adolescents. Students will cover a broad discussion of sociology, psychology, health, economics, and educational topics that impact the lives of children. Students will learn to identify, read, and discuss current research and also reflect on their own life and experiences as a context for the course topics.

How can math be used as a tool to make sense of the world? Can it be used to game the lottery, predict how disease will spread through a population or give you an advantage in playing a game? In this class you will work with other STEM students and faculty to answer these questions! Get a head start on Fall by sharpening your Algebra and problem-solving skills, and learning skills you will need to succeed as a STEM student at CSUDH, including how to shorten your path to Calculus.

How do we characterize the typical size of all elephants? How is the number of years a doctor spends as a resident related to the salary that they earn? What can we learn from reading graphs? These are questions we explore in MAT 102. Successful completion prepares students to take MAT 132 Statistics and Probability with Support.

MAT 131 is a practical three-unit course in probability and statistics. How can we tell if a drug treatment works? How do we know if an exercise regimen is effective? How do we summarize and understand data? What does it mean for something to be unlikely? These are the kinds of questions that statistics and probability can answer. This course satisfies the General Education Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (B4). MAT 131 is for general non-STEM GE students.

MAT 132 is a practical four-unit course in probability and statistics. How can we tell if a drug treatment works? How do we know if an exercise regimen is effective? How do we summarize and understand data? What does it mean for something to be unlikely? These are the kinds of questions that statistics and probability can answer. This course also includes facilitated study sessions and additional instructional time to support student success. It satisfies the General Education Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (B4). MAT 132 is for general non-STEM GE students.

MAT 134 is a practical four-unit course in probability and statistics. How can we tell if a drug treatment works? How do we know if an exercise regimen is effective? How do we summarize and understand data? What does it mean for something to be unlikely? These are the kinds of questions that statistics and probability can answer. This course has additional instructional time to support student success, but does not have the facilitated study sessions available for MAT 132. It satisfies the General Education Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (B4). MAT 134 is for general non-STEM GE students, and is recommended for students with Math/Quantitative Reasoning placement at Level 3.

Introducing Music examines a diverse, global array of music cultures for students with or without musical training. Topics range among those dealing with history, musical instruments, performers, politics, human migration, and communities of music makers from Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. In addition to listening to and discussing music, its sound, unique characteristics, and meaning, the class examines case studies representing a true world-wide scope. The instructor’s experience in Brazilian and Indonesian music augments his activities as a composer, creative musician, and music educator.

In this course we reflect on real-world moral problems we face in our actual day-to-day lives. To begin, we consider the emergence of individual moral concern, then we proceed to broader social and global ethics. We study moral thinkers such as Saint Augustine, Henry David Thoreau, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Luther King Jr., and Hannah Arendt, as well as current issues such as systemic racism, heterosexism, species extinction, and global climate change. The course offers a student-friendly introduction to college-level work.

Do you know what feminism is? Have you heard about the different ideologies within feminism? Do you know Frida Kahlo, Sor Juana Inés, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton? This class will take you on a historical and cultural trip of women spanning from their roles in ancient prehistoric societies to their gradual rebellion against patriarchal systems in the contemporary world. We will be exploring the first and second waves of feminism, as well as transnational and global feminist movements in USA and Latin America. We will also explore the different intersectional feminist analysis and how it relates both to us and society.

Instructor: Mara Grayson

In this seminar, we will explore how oral and written rhetoric have contributed to social, cultural, and political change in recent U.S. history. Through in-class discussion, rhetorical analysis, and reflective and critical writing, we will consider how revolutionary movements have shaped and been shaped by individual and cultural language and literacy practices. This course will teach students to think critically about the ways in which language both constructs and obscures meaning and to consider how they can use their own writing to make meaning and effect change in their own communities.