360° Course Clusters
360° is a new interdisciplinary experience that engages several aspects of a topic or theme, giving students an opportunity to investigate thoroughly and thoughtfully a range of perspectives. A cohort of students takes a cluster of classes over the course of a semester, focusing on the history, economic concerns, cultural intersections and political impact of an era, decision, event, policy, or important scientific innovation. 360° participants hone their arguments and insights through writing and research, develop strategies for teamwork that push the limits of their talents and creativity, and work with professors and scholars to promote big-picture thinking. Travel associated with the 360°program is funded by Bryn Mawr College.
Current 360° Offerings, Spring 2012
Perspectives on Sustainability
In 360°: Perspectives on Sustainability, students and professors from the mathematics, growth and structure of cities, and education programs look at numerous and interrelated challenges to the urban and natural environments, including climate change, population growth, and extreme socioeconomic disparities. 360°: Perspectives on Sustainability offers a multidisciplinary investigation of urban and educational policies and implementation issues that are crucial to issues of sustainability, while mathematical modeling provides frameworks to examine the evolution and current state of cities in terms of their built environments, their ecological footprints, and their educational systems. More about 360°: Perspectives on Sustainability »
Learning and Narrating Childhoods
Incorporating a visit to the Titagya school in rural Ghana, this 360° explore hows children grow and develop in different contexts (e.g. schools, communities, households) and cultures (e.g., the United States, West Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa) and how this growth and development is conceptualized and represented -- in texts and theories -- mainly by adults, across cultures and fields of study.
Led by faculty members in the fields of Education, French and Francophone studies, and Psychology, Learning and Narrating Childhoods offers students an opportunity not only to see and hear children anew—an abiding challenge for adults—but also to think about and engage in supporting child development, particularly important as youth oppression persists in myriad forms and children’s rights remain unfulfilled.
This 360° will make visible and put into dialogue the different ways in which disciplines construct children and childhood. It will also provide opportunities for students to apply their variously informed understanding to creating curricula for children and learning how curricula are created in West Africa. More about 360°: Learning and Narrating Childhoods »