The common curriculum, sometimes referred to as general education requirements, is meant to shape the experience of all King's students to include the following learning outcomes.
Students of the King's University will:
Develop ways of thinking well
• Understand that humans bring meaning to their lives through story and that understanding the way people tell stories is key to understanding people.
• Articulate the biblical and Christian stories as narratives within human history that reveal the truth of God's reality and the ways people succeed and fail to live into this reality.
• Fit their story into the larger biblical and human stories.
• Develop the skill and passion to ask good questions and understand that questions are at the heart of finding wisdom as opposed to an accumulation of knowledge.
Articulate how ideas shape our world
• Describe the fundamentals of a Christian worldview as well as other worldviews operative in human societies.
• Evaluate how different worldviews relate to different ways of knowing, articulating how assumptions about what are valid methodologies for understanding reality shape worldviews, promote or limit discussion, and ultimately shape the reality in which we live.
• Evaluate the efficacy of different worldviews for illuminating the structures, forces and relationships of our physical and social reality.
• Develop a habit of reflecting on their worldview and discerning ways in which their beliefs affect their actions.
• Identify where worldviews influence disciplinary ideas, theories, and actions.
Act to bring flourishing to our world
• Use language, art, and science to critique and tell the stories that form our worldviews and provide a framework for our lives as individuals, communities and societies.
• Critically assess answers that are given to questions, identifying the biases, assumptions, worldviews and beliefs behind the answers people give.
• Develop a deeper relationship to the physical creation built on an appreciation for the unique role humanity has for the flourishing of our world.
• Claim responsibility for and involvement in the structures and relationships of society, continually searching for ways to bring flourishing and reconciliation.
• Live their lives in ways that are consistent with the worldviews and beliefs they articulate and the education that they have been gifted with.
• Participate in physical communities as a working out of their faith and learning, recognizing that the education they have been given must be shared with people with whom they are in relationship.
To enable students to achieve these outcomes, all students in undergraduate degree programs other than the Bachelor of Education must register in courses in the following categories:
Learning to Think Well | 15 credits |
|---|---|
Reading our Story | 3 credits - ENGL 214 |
Framing our Context | 3 credits - HIST 204 |
Considering our Place | 3 credits - PHIL 230 |
Our Place in Redemptive History | 3 credits - THEO 250 |
Engaging Creativity | 3 credits of ARTHxxx; ARTSxxx; CMNA350; DRAMxxx (except 320); ENGL 390, 391, 398, 498; MUSIxxx |
Ideas that Shape our World | 15 credits |
|---|---|
Deepening our Roots | 3 credits of ENGL215, and 6 credits in two of HIST3xx (except 300); INDG210; PHIL3xx/EDUC300; SOCI335; and THEO3xx/MUSI376 (except 341, 360, 361, 369, 378, 391, 396, 397, 399) |
Recognizing Creation’s Story | 3 credits in ASTR2xx; BIOL2xx; CHEM2xx; CMPT2xx; GEOG201; KINS 207; MATH2xx (except 281, 282); NSCI2xx; PHYS2xx |
Social Sciences | 3 credits in ECON2xx; GEOG210; POLI2xx; PSYC2xx; SOCI2xx; SSCI210 |
Acting to Bring Flourishing | 15 credits |
|---|---|
Interdisciplinary Studies | 3 credits made up of INST200, 210, 300, 310, 400, and 410. Please see below for a description of our Interdisciplinary Studies Conferences. |
Engaging the Creation | 3 credits in BIOLxxx (except 307, 362, 364, 397); CHEMxxx, CMPTxxx; GEOG201; MATHxxx (except 281, 282); NSCIxxx; PHYSxxx (except 300, 395); BUSI391, 439 |
Social Sciences | 3 credits in ECONxxx; EDUC363; ENVS320; GEOG3xx (except 300, 350); POLI3xx (except 373); PSYC3xx (except 327, 370, 375, 385, 477); SOCIxxx (except 311, 335); SSCI, 314, 316, 320 |
Introduction to the concentration or major | 3 credits. The first introductory course in a disciplinary concentration or major will build the connections between the other common curriculum courses and the discipline. |
Concentration or major capstone | 3 credits. Each concentration or major will identify a capstone course or courses which will recapitulate the connections between disciplinary study and the common curriculum. |
Notes:
• An individual course can only meet one of the common curriculum requirements. These courses may also meet concentration, major, second concentration, minor, or cognate requirements.
• The first four courses under Learning to Think Well should normally be completed in the first year of study. In addition, ENGL215 from Deepening our Roots should also normally be completed in the first year.
• Some programs make more specific requirements in some categories. Please see the individual program descriptions below for details.
• Students entering King's with transfer credit will need to take note of the following as they seek to fulfill the common curriculum requirements.
• Reading Our Story may be fulfilled by any writing or English literature course taught by an English department. If this is being fulfilled by a writing course, then ENGL215 must be taken for Deepening Our Roots.
• Framing Our Context may be fulfilled by any university history course taught by a History department.
• Considering Our Place may be fulfilled by any university philosophy course taught by a philosophy department excluding courses in logic.
• Our Place in Redemptive history may be fulfilled by any introductory Christian Theology course. Biblical studies courses covering the breadth of the old and new testaments may be considered in combination to meet this requirement.
• Because of the conference-based nature of Interdisciplinary studies, transfer students may need to use a directed studies course (INST499) to make up the required credits. Typically this is 1 credit in a 4 year program, or 2 credits in a 3-year program.
Interdisciplinary Studies Conferences
Part of the Common Curriculum is participation in our Interdisciplinary Studies conferences. These are delivered as 0.5 credit courses taken in conjunction with a two-day conference that is held each term. All other classes are cancelled during these conferences. Each conference is shaped around a specific theme that speaks to and through all disciplines. Keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and other activities to engage all students in these topics. Note that registration in these courses is mandatory for all full-time students (except B.Ed.), and students are expected to complete two of these courses (1 credit) in each year of study.