Interdisciplinary Studies in Letters & Science

ISLS Update

Chabot College - Spring 2006 Program

 

 

How does ISLS work?

Students get credit for up to 40 semester transferable units of courses over three semesters:

• ISLS 1A (Spring 2005): Humanities 28, Political Science 1, Math 12A, Phil. 1, ISLS 9 Colloquium
• ISLS 1B (Autumn 2005): English 1A, Anthropology 1, Political Science 25, History 1, ISLS 9
• ISLS 1C (Spring 2006): English 4, Creative Arts 10, Astro 10, History 2, Anthro or Astro Lab, ISLS 9
  
  
• Students seeking an AA degree will need additional units including Math 65 (or higher), Health 1, two units of P.E., and a course satisfying American Cultures, and possibly one additional approved Group B American Institution course (if the current 6-unit requirement stands). Students seeking transfer to CSU will also need Speech, Math, and must satisfy Area E course requirements.  Students seeking transfer to UC will need to fulfill the math & language requirement as well if not already completed in high school.
  
  
• We meet 3 hours a day, Monday through Thursday; the initial morning session (9 – 10:15 AM) is spent in large-group lecture and discussion, and the second half  (10:30 – 11:50 AM) is spent in small-group discussion activities with one of four tutors.  Once a week (Tuesday afternoons in Spring 2006) there is a 2-hour colloquium (ISLS 9).
  
  
• Students may join ISLS 1C in Spring, 2006 – with the consent of the faculty and acceptable skills in English and a prior passing grade in English 1A.  Students must be eligible for English 4 to take ISLS 1C.
  
  
• We read primary works, i.e. written by authors rather than textbooks or anthologies, and discuss them structurally as well as within a larger context of history, society, science, politics, and culture.
  
  
• Grades are based on attendance, participation and lots of papers; there are no exams.
  
  

What types of students do well in ISLS?

• Students who like to read, and talk about what they are reading, relating it to current life and society.
• Students must be English 1A eligible no later than Autumn, 2005 to continue in the program.
• Reading is heavy at times, and writing assignments (typically 4-5 page papers) come about every two weeks. The typical Chabot students do fine in ISLS, as long as they don’t try to take 2-3 additional classes and work full-time. Students who take ISLS and perhaps one additional class can do fine.

 

Who will be participating in ISLS in the Spring 2006 program?

 

Don Skiles (Coordinator)	Room 734	723-6811	dskiles@chabotcollege.edu
Julie Segedy	744	723-6807	jsegedy@chabotcollege.edu
Susan Sperling	765	723-7063	ssperling@chabotcollege.edu
Scott Hildreth	2013	723-7468	shildreth@chabotcollege.edu
Naoma Mize ISLS Counselor	154	723-6726	nmize@chabotcollege.edu
Marcia Corcoran  (Dean of Language Arts)	701	723-6805	mcorcoran@chabotcollege.edu

 

 

How can students get more information?

• The ISLS website (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/isls) has registration information, reading & writing examples from the recent programs, answers to frequently asked questions, email links to each of the faculty, and easy access to more information.
• See or call one of the tutors!
  
  

How do students register for or ADD into ISLS?

• Students register for ISLS 1C online, signing up for all 5 classes. See http://www.chabotcollege.edu/isls
• To register in person or ADD, students will need a Add authorization numbers FOR EACH CLASS.  Five authorization numbers are required for the 4 core classes as well as the colloquium.  An additional authorization number is required for the Anthropology and/or Astronomy Labs.

 

What are our goals?
The success of Interdisciplinary Studies in Letters and Science lies in three essential elements:

Community: membership in a group of inquirers to share intellectual growth and enthusiasm.

Intellectual Challenge: a chance to investigate the most fundamental and exciting works in five academic disciplines; intimate association with some of the creative thinking that has significantly affected human civilization.

Personalized Instruction: the opportunity to develop skill and understanding under the close supervision of tutors who have the time and freedom to instruct each student.

What will we be reading and studying in the next program?  While our selection varies from program to program, we will certainly be reading most of the following during the three-semester program:

 

Spring 2005 Plato, The Apology Homer, The Odyssey Euclid, Geometry Sophocles, Antigone & Oedipus Popul Voh "Genesis," The Bible, King James Version Plato, The Republic Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac Gilgamesh

Autumn 2006 Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales Galileo, The Starry Messenger Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince The US Constitution Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 J Hector St John De Crevecoeur Letters from an American Farmer Readings from Night and Horses, and the Desert (Islamic Art) Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus

Spring 2006 Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk Henry David Thoreau, Walden Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents Stephen Joy Gould, The Mismeasure of Man Camus, The Plague Akira Kurasawa, Rashomon Basho, The Narrow Road to the Deep North Frank Lloyd Wright, In the Cause of Architecture Richard Feynman, Six Easy Pieces

 

http://www.chabotcollege.edu/isls

 

Last Updated 1/12/06 – SH - Chabot College