Interdisciplinary Courses
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
INDS 100 Data Analysis
Credit: 0.25
In this course, students will gain experience analyzing, interpreting, and critiquing quantitative claims and communicating results and conclusions using graphical representations of data. Examples will be drawn from across the natural and social sciences, with context provided for each data set, so that students from any disciplinary background can participate in and benefit from this course. This course has no pre-requisites. It will be taught at a level accessible to all Kenyon students. Excellent preparation for further work on quantitative topics, this course will hone students' ability to apply mathematical techniques including graphing, statistics, linear and non-linear regression, and modeling the graphical behavior of mathematical functions to understanding and interpreting data. Students will practice these skills by engaging in critical reading of primary sources, oral presentation of quantitative data, and expression of analytic ideas in writing. Assessment will be based on in-class assignments, monthly quizzes, and oral reports on data-driven projects selected in consultation with the instructor.
INDS 110 Scientific Data
Credit: 0.13
In this course, we will learn to collect, analyze, evaluate, interpret, criticize, and communicate scientific data. Course activities will include tutorials on mathematical and computational tools as well as group exercises in data analysis. Workshops will explore critical reading of primary scientific sources, effective oral presentation of data, and sound technical writing. Students will apply their learning to a research project collecting, assessing, and presenting original data. Assessment will be based on daily assignments, several quizzes, and oral and written reports on the independent project. This course is held during pre-orientation. Enrollment is limited.
INDS 163 Entrepreneurship
Credit: 0.5
This course will explore the concept of entrepreneurship on a number of levels. At the societal level we will explore the effects on society of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial activity. At the individual level will look at what, if anything, it means to "think entrepreneurially." Students will explore their personal strengths to determine their relationship to an entrepreneurial mindset. At the level of the firm, we will use a set of linked frameworks to analyze entrepreneurial concepts and better understand the types of entrepreneurial activity. Finally, we will consider the effects of geography, immigration, gender and "intrapreneurship" on entrepreneurial success. At the term's end, students should understand entrepreneurial thinking, be able to generally examine an entrepreneurial concept and more fully understand how entrepreneurs contribute to and/or cost society.
Instructor: Rice
INDS 231 The Holocaust: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry
Credit: 0.5
This course presents an interdisciplinary inquiry into the destruction of European Jewry during the Second World War. How was it that in the twentieth century, in the midst of civilized Europe, a policy of genocide was formulated and systematically implemented? We will examine the Holocaust within the contexts of modern European history, Nazi ideology and practice, the Jewish experience in Europe, the history of antisemitism, and the psychology of human behavior. Data will be drawn from films, literature, art, memoirs, theology, and historical investigations. An ongoing concern of the course will be the significance of the Holocaust in political discourse and in our own thinking as individuals. When a faculty member from religious studies, modern languages and literatures (German) or history is teaching the course, students may count it toward majors in history, modern languages and literatures (German) or religious studies. Paired with another religious studies course, it will fulfill the diversification requirement in the humanities.
Instructor: Dean-Otting, Riegert