CRITICAL and CREATIVE THINKING
Graduates will use reason, evidence, and context to increase knowledge, to reason ethically, and to innovate in imaginative ways. | Graduates may demonstrate critical and creative thinking by: - Defining, analyzing, and solving problems.
- Integrating and synthesizing knowledge from multiple sources.
- Assessing the accuracy and validity of findings and conclusions.
- Examining how one thinks, reasons, and makes value judgments, including ethical and aesthetic judgments.
- Identifying diverse viewpoints, including different philosophical and cultural perspectives.
- Combining and synthesizing existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways.
- Thinking and working in imaginative ways characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and risk-taking.
|
INFORMATION LITERACY
Graduates will effectively identify, locate, evaluate, use responsibly and share information for the problem at hand. | Graduates may demonstrate information literacy by: - Determining the extent and type of information needed.
- Implementing well-designed search strategies.
- Accessing information effectively and efficiently from multiple sources.
- Assessing credibility and applicability of information sources.
- Using information to accomplish a specific purpose.
- Accessing and using information ethically and legally.
|
COMMUNICATION
Graduates will communicate successfully with audiences through written, oral, and other media as appropriate for the audience and purpose. | Graduates may demonstrate communication skills by: - Analyzing how circumstances, background, values, interests and needs shape communication sent and received.
- Tailoring messages to audiences according to purpose, occasion, and technology used.
- Expressing concepts, propositions, and beliefs in coherent, concise, and technically correct form.
- Choosing appropriate communication media and technology.
- Speaking confidently and effectively in front of groups.
- Following social and disciplinary norms for individual and small group interactions, which includes active listening.
|
QUANTITATIVE REASONING
Graduates will solve quantitative problems from a wide variety of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. | Graduates may demonstrate quantitative and symbolic reasoning by: - Explaining information presented in mathematical forms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, and words).
- Converting relevant information into various mathematical forms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, and words).
- Applying quantitative principles and methods in the solution of problems.
- Making judgments and drawing appropriate conclusions based on the quantitative analysis of data, while recognizing the limits of this analysis.
- Identifying and evaluating important assumptions in estimation, modeling, and data analysis.
- Expressing quantitative evidence in support of the argument or purpose of work (in terms of what evidence is used and how it is formatted, presented, and contextualized).
|
SCIENTIFIC LITERACY
Graduates will have a basic understanding of major scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision-making, participation in civic affairs, economic productivity and global stewardship. | Graduates may demonstrate scientific literacy by: - Identifying scientific issues underlying global, national, local and personal decisions and communicating positions that are scientifically and technologically informed.
- Evaluating the quality of scientific and health-related information on the basis of its source and the methods used to generate it.
- Posing and evaluating arguments based on evidence and applying conclusions from such arguments appropriately.
- Recognizing the societal benefits and risks associated with scientific and technological advances.
|
DIVERSITY
Graduates will understand, respect and interact constructively with others of similar and diverse cultures, values, and perspectives. | Graduates may demonstrate their recognition of diverse cultures, values, and perspectives by: - Moving beyond perception-based comparisons, prior knowledge, and individual experiences to understand how social positioning and cultural differences and/or interrelations are constructed.
- Recognizing how factors including history; politics; economics; systems of discrimination and inequality; structures of power and privilege; and/or cultural values, beliefs, and practices determine social and cultural conditions.
- Using vocabulary, language, concepts, and/or theoretical models to engage and analyze how social realities are shaped and how stereotypes are created by cultural and socio-economic differences in the US and/or globally.
- Analyzing and critiquing the cultural and social underpinnings of knowledge claims about individuals and groups and their relations to one another.
- Assessing one’s own core values, cultural assumptions, and biases in relation to those held by other individuals, cultures, and societies.
|
DEPTH, BREADTH, AND INTEGRATION OF LEARNING
Graduates will develop depth, breadth, and integration of learning for the benefit of themselves, their communities, their employers, and for society at large. | Graduates may demonstrate depth, breadth, and integration of learning: - Through broad study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, history, languages, and the arts.
- By demonstrating a depth of knowledge within the chosen academic field of study based on integration of its history, core methods, techniques, vocabulary, and unsolved problems.
- By applying the concepts of the general and specialized studies to personal, academic, service learning, professional, and/or community activities.
- By understanding how the methods and concepts of the chosen discipline (major) relate to those of other disciplines and by engaging in cross-disciplinary activities.
- By synthesizing multiple bodies of knowledge to address real-world problems and issues.
- By reflecting upon changes in learning and outlook over time and by making personal, professional, and civic plans based on that self-reflection.
|
*Note: WSU’s Learning Goals of Undergraduate Education (PDF) are officially published in the WSU Catalog. |