Course Description: This course has four interrelated goals:

1) Introduce you to some different ways of thinking about thinking and intelligence

2) Improve your ability to think critically and communicate your thoughts clearly

3) Deepen your understanding of your own and others' thinking abilities and processes

4) Provide opportunities for you to develop and apply your emotional intelligence

In service of these goals, the course will provide lectures, individual and group exercises, small group discussion, a group project, a field trip, two midterms, and reading and writing assignments.

Your anticipated contribution, should you adopt these goals as your own, will be to participate actively, read carefully and critically, pay attention to your own thought processes, listen to others, and challenge yourself and others to think more deeply and become more mindful.

Important Note on Basic Skills: Students should already be capable of writing sentences that (1) have a clearly discernible meaning, (2) are grammatically correct, and (3) are composed of words used according to a standard definition and spelled correctly. Keep in mind that good writing almost always requires multiple drafts. Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is a recommended guide to writing concise, precise sentences and assembling them into paragraphs and essays. See your local bookstore or surf to http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/index.html

Note on Learning Disabilities: Contact me right away (first week of class) if you have been diagnosed with a learning disability (confirmed by the Academic Learning Center) or some other special circumstance that may require special adjustments. Do not wait until after a problem (such as failing grade) has developed to talk to me. Adjustments are more easily made in advance.