They provide students with tools for analyzing human experience by examining similarities and differences within and across societies. Courses focus on the problems of interpreting the past and can also deal with the relationship between past and present. All courses are broad in scope and introduce students to the ways scholars think critically about the past, present and future. Students may study foreign languages, which highlight the relationship between language and culture, or English-language courses that deal with the same issue. Scientific Perspective courses teach the principal methods and results of the study of the natural world.
Courses focus on the knowledge and theoretical bases of science.
They also include laboratories or similar components to introduce students to the observation of natural phenomena and the nature of scientific study. Values Perspective courses seek to make sense of the moral dimension of human life, as reflected in personal behavior, social policy and institutional structure.