Quest 2 Program Description
Quest 2 courses provide an opportunity for students to engage in thought-provoking General Education coursework that builds on and expands upon their Quest 1 experience in the Arts and Humanities. If Quest 1 courses ask what it means, Quest 2 courses ask what we can do. Rather than offer an introduction to or survey of a specific field, Quest 2 courses invite students to encounter important real-world issues that cut across disciplines. They introduce scientific methods and discourse for students to become familiar with the ways that data, methods, and tools from diverse fields can be brought to bear on pressing questions facing human societies and/or the planet today. What are the unintended consequences of technological progress, climate change, structural racism? How do the various social and/or biophysical sciences substantively contribute to life on our planet? How do these disciplines converge towards improving the human condition?
Quest 2 Course Objectives
Quest 2 courses provide instruction in the history, key themes, principles, terminologies, theories, or methodologies of various social or biophysical science disciplines that enable us to address pressing questions and challenges about human society and/or the state of our planet. Students learn to identify and analyze different social or biophysical science methods and theories and consider how their biases and influences shape pressing questions about human society and/or the state of our planet. These courses emphasize clear and effective analysis and evaluation of qualitative or quantitative data relevant to pressing questions concerning human society and/or the state of our planet. Students reflect on the ways in which the social or the biophysical sciences impact individuals, societies, and their own intellectual, personal, and professional development.
Quest 2 Student Learning Outcomes
Identify, describe, and explain the cross-disciplinary dimensions of a pressing societal issue or challenge as represented by the social sciences and/or biophysical sciences incorporated into the course. (Content)
Critically analyze quantitative or qualitative data appropriate for informing an approach, policy, or praxis that addresses some dimension of an important societal issue or challenge. (Critical Thinking)
Develop and present, in terms accessible to an educated public, clear and effective responses to proposed approaches, policies, or practices that address important societal issues or challenges. (Communication)
Connect course content with critical reflection on their intellectual, personal, and professional development at UF and beyond. (Connection)