UNIVERSITY LEARNING OBJECTIVES GRID

LA400 Senior Integrative Seminar

I. Communication and Problem Solving

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Use the expressive X To fulfill my artistic expression requirement, I took a graphic design
arts as a mode of course in which I used digital media technology to create various
inquiry or projects. Some of my projects included editing photographs using
expression photoshop tools, creating advertisements for various products, and
creating visually appealing patterns and structures to be used as
background material. I enjoyed taking this course because I got to
choose which colors, patterns, and fonts I used for my assignments. I
was able to express myself through these projects by showcasing some
of my favorite products and aesthetics. I also got to edit a lot of photos I
had taken myself, which allowed me to explore different ways to
represent different feelings and ideas through photography.

Demonstrate X In my sociology class with Dr. Eichenberger, the bulk of our grade
leadership, consisted of in-class discussion and debate. During these sessions, we
negotiation, would often split up into two teams and each assume a standpoint
relational, and regarding our reading material about nonviolent vs violent practices.
Sometimes, we would alternate being the team spokesperson, relaying
consensus skills
why our argument was correct to the other group. Other times, we
would all chime in and debate back and forth some controversial issues,
such as religion, governmental policies, etc. While respectfully
disagreeing with the other side, we would respond to their concerns and
disagreements in a rational and logical way using our class resources.

Use technological X A poster presentation on meiotic chromosome counts was presented at

skills to access the 2021 Undergraduate Research Conference in May. My research
information, colleague, Hannah Judy, and I designed this to showcase results from
organize our individual experiments. We used primary and secondary source
references to support why our research was relevant in its field and why
knowledge, and
we decided to perform the research at Seton Hill. We then wrote
communicate individual research papers detailing our methods and conclusions and
then combined our information into this poster presentation. Via Zoom,
we presented our research findings to the larger community, which
included faculty and students of Seton Hill, family, and friends.

A PowerPoint presentation on nature vs nurture was presented by my

group mates and I in our genetics class. We each located numerous
primary and secondary source articles to see how a person's genetics
and environment combine to form their habits and predispositions. We
each worked on certain aspects of the presentation and met together
numerous times as a group to design other aspects of the presentation.
 On our designated presentation date, we presented our research
findings to the whole class via Zoom and were asked questions about
our topic and results.

Propose new X In senior integrative seminar, we were tasked with writing a letter to the
solutions to president or vice president about a social issue that was meaningful to
current issues us. I chose to write a letter to the president about the effects of racism
on mental health and explained why we should begin a movement in
favor of love and acceptance of Americans of all races. I chose to select
this form of awareness because I believe that our strength often lies in
numbers when it comes to social issues. Also, by getting more influential
figures spreading awareness about this common problem, it is likely that
more Americans will want to join the movement. With recent protests
regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and living in an
unprecedented time of divide and anguish in America, it is increasingly
important that we continue to use Catholic principles to raise awareness
about these injustices we see everyday.

Express arguments X I presented a PowerPoint presentation on micropipetting during one of

or main points the laboratory sessions in General Biology I Lab, where I was a
clearly, in written laboratory assistant. The goal of the presentation was to give the
and oral students an introduction to the laboratory practice of micropipetting,
which is a technique commonly used in all biology labs during a person's
communication
undergraduate studies. I gave the student simple and specific
instructions on how to use the pipettes and warned them about some
common errors and mistakes that could ruin the instruments or their
experiments. The students followed along with the notes on the slides
and took some of their own notes while I spoke about the material on
the slides and asked them for questions and feedback.

My partner, Sidney Kakabar, and I authored and presented a paper on

the injustices of coal mining as our final research project in our
sociology class. The paper detailed some logistical information about
how finances were handled in typical coal mining towns throughout the
1900s and mentioned some of the unfair treatment that coal miners and
their families received during this time period. After we finished writing
our detailed research paper, we prepared a PowerPoint presentation to
relay some of the most important information from our research to our
fellow classmates. We included pictures from Sidney's hometown, which
was once a coal mining town, and discussed the negative impact that
coal mining had on people's financial and personal lives with our
instructor and classmates.

Transfer X After studying various philosophers such as Aristotle, Mill, and Kant, my
knowledge and philosophy class required us to write a paper on one philosopher's
values into sound theory of ethical navigation. I chose to analyze Aristotle's ethical theory,
decision making explaining how his text provides us with real-world tools and
suggestions for how to deal with ethically challenging situations in life.
Using references from the text, I was able to explain how we can apply
Aristotle's theory to our own lives and explain some key concepts such
as happiness, deliberation, and character. Writing this paper allowed me
to draw connections between various philosophers' theories and my
 own decision making, influencing how I approach difficult situations. I
found Aristotle’s text to be especially relevant in my life because he
discussed the ambiguity of making decisions, and I appreciated how he
explained that we should embrace this ambiguity and use our
conscience and well-formed character to make these difficult decisions.

II. Historical, Cultural, and Global Awareness

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Communicate in a X In my college Spanish class with Dr. Reyna, we had biweekly journal
second language assignments. In these assignments, we would have to pretend we were
at the introductory writing in our own personal journal about a given topic. The Spanish journal
college level about my favorite activity is an example of what these assignments were to
look like and how they were graded by the instructor. We weren't allowed to
consult the internet for help and had to meet a minimum number of
required words using the information we were learning in class. By
completing these journal entries, I was able to effectively communicate
some of my personal thoughts and feelings to the instructor (and anyone
else who read my journal) in Spanish.

One of the most difficult assignments in my Spanish class was the

performance of a group skit. The skit dialogue that my group members and I
worked on together shows how we memorized our lines to convey to the
class a typical restaurant scenario. We had to design the dialogue and ensure
that all of our comments made sense when conversing with one another,
and we ultimately memorized our lines and used props to communicate a
situation to the rest of our classmates. The goal of the assignment was to
become comfortable conversing with one another in Spanish and accurately
convey to the class what was happening and being said during an interaction
of friends at a restaurant.

Analyze the impact X In my western cultures courses, we analyzed how different historical events
of history, impacted the world in a variety of ways. During the first section of the
geography, and course, we discussed the impact of the Spanish flu on its surrounding areas
socio-cultural and how the world came to blame Spain for the spread of the virus;
meanwhile, we discovered that it was actually the men fighting in World War
dynamics on global
I that carried the virus from place to place. During the second part of the
interactions from a course, we studied the impact of Roman civilization on its surrounding areas.
variety of We discussed the cruel nature of the gladiator games and how they were
disciplinary meant to show the rest of the world how Roman civilization could not be
perspectives taken down. We also studied how the historical man Jesus Christ did not fit
 into their civilization. By learning more about the geography and social
dynamics of this area, it is easy to see why Jesus was hated by most Romans
and why he chose to preach in the areas that he did. We also studied the
nature of the volatile relationship between Muslims and Christians, dating
back to the Crusades. By understanding the background information about
these still current issues, we can better comprehend where the
disagreements stem from and hopefully come together to reconcile our
differences.

Analyze current X During the second half of my western cultures course, we studied St.
and historical Thomas Aquinas’ life in detail. A very important part of his life was
events through the promoting tolerance and acceptance for all things created by God. In
lens of spirituality accordance with this, he disembarked on a famous trip to visit the Sultan, of
whom he later became good friends with. Considering the historical context
and faith
of the relationship between Christians and Muslims, this was unheard of
during his time. By studying this history and thinking about the rocky
relationship between Christians and Muslims still today, it is easy to see how
tensions have not loosened and how remarkable this journey was for St.
Thomas Aquinas. With the destructive acts of ISIS still a threat to America
today, it is increasingly important that we take on this attitude of St. Thomas
Aquinas and promote acceptance for all people, regardless of religion.
Learning more about his life has allowed my classmates and I to dive deeper
into our prejudices and presumptions about others, independent of religion
but dependent on our own spiritualities.

Assess privilege X While taking a political science class with Dr. O'Dell, I wrote a final research
and oppression paper on the unfair treatment of immigrants at the US border. After
from the consulting primary and secondary source articles, I crafted an argument in
perspective of favor of respectfully treating immigrants during the citizenship process.
Consulting resources from the UDHR and United Nations, I explained why we
culture, race, class,
should treat all immigrants fairly regardless of their financial, economic, and
and gender social statuses. Conducting this research allowed me to learn about the
unfortunate effects of privilege on the less fortunate and allowed me to
ultimately uncover prejudices of the American governmental system.

In a sociology course with Dr. Eichenberger, a lot of our coursework was

group assignments and discussion. We would often read literature about
influential figures in social change and then use the class time to discuss our
thoughts with our classmates. During class one day, my group mates and I
crafted an outline of what we wanted to contribute to the discussion while
discussing the overall oppression of women's rights in literature in the
1900s. We discussed themes of disrespect, discounting credibility, and verbal
oppression with our classmates. Reading various pieces of literature from
both male and female authors on effective nonviolent practices allowed us
to recognize oppression of women, Jews, etc. and discuss ways we can
combat these problems in a successful nonviolent manner.

III. Multiple Modes of Inquiry

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Generate and X One of my weekly assignments from my computational biology course

analyze numerical
and scientific data
shows the step-by-step process I used to generate numerical data and
interpret the results. Using a statistical programming tool called R, my
classmates and I worked together on each assignment to generate
successful coding sequences that could be used to answer a wide
variety of questions about a specific data set. We would often
perform statistical analyses, such as ANOVA or two-sample t tests, to
answer questions about the data we were analyzing. By determining
these results, we were often better able to understand the
importance of the results from a biological standpoint, indicating
whether a population was increasing or decreasing, how soil
composition changed over time, etc.

Using a gel electrophoresis instrument in the laboratory, I was able to

produce a physical image quantifying the genetic diversity of a plant.
After performing an extensive series of steps, including DNA
extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis, I received this image as a
result of numerous successful scientific processes. I was able to
interpret this result, accurately identifying this organism as a
heterozygote for the specific gene I was investigating. I completed this
process each week while conducting independent research under the
supervision of Dr. Brzyski and was able to accurately report the results
of each process, whether successful or unsuccessful.

Locate and X During our sociology course, my partner and I were tasked with
analyze creating a final research project on a topic of historical injustice. We
expressive media chose to analyze the economic and personal injustices regarding the
to gain structure of coal mining towns during the 1900s. Because Sidney’s
hometown was once a historic coal mining town and her grandfather
information or
worked in the mines, we were able to obtain old and current
comprehend the photographs of different areas in her town, such as the mines,
significance of an company housing, and company stores. Her grandfather was also able
issue or an event to provide a firsthand account of what his work day consisted of and
how the mining industry affected his life overall. We used the photos
and his interview in our PowerPoint presentation, which we
presented for our classmates. Having a firsthand account and seeing
photos of how the town has changed in the past 100 years allowed us
to comprehend how the structure of coal mining towns greatly
affected those living in them and shed a light on the injustices present
in such towns.

Organize and X The COVID-19 pandemic certainly changed a lot about the way we
manage learn and present information. After finishing an independent
 resources in a research project on chromosome counts in flowering plants, my
creative way to partner and I needed to find a creative way to display our research
achieve impact findings at the Undergraduate Research Conference via Zoom.
Because we were unable to show the microscope slides of our results
or showcase our plant materials in person, we decided to make a
colorful poster about our findings and methods. Because so much of
our research success is displayed within the photos of our stained
slides, we were able to take photos of them with our phones and
include them on the poster so everyone online could view them. We
also were able to include a few paragraphs explaining our methods
and results on the poster, which was important so that we could
briefly explain how our experiment was conducted and how we could
have improved during the process. Because we were able to include
the images and words, the poster was effective in conveying to the
audience the purpose of our research and allowed them to see actual
results and how we interpreted them.

Find, evaluate, X Within the liberal arts curriculum and within my academic major, the
and apply ability to locate, analyze, and apply information to a topic is extremely
information common. When I was conducting an independent research project on
chromosome counts in flowering plants, I had to perform extensive
research on the technique I was using and find examples of successful
results to compare my findings to. Once I found this information, I had
to apply what I had learned about performing the techniques to my
own method to optimize success. I also found unreliable information
about my techniques, so another essential part of the research
process was to sift through information and find the most credible
sources that were relevant to my individual experiment. Not only did I
complete this process for this project, but I also repeated a similar
series of steps for my honors capstone project, where I studied
hydroponic growth in the greenhouse. The most important aspect of
this project was ensuring that it was rooted in sound scientific
research. This project challenged me to apply what I had researched
to my overall project and presentation.

Interpret X One of the largest and most extensive experiments I completed in a

quantitative and chemistry lab with Dr. Moerdyk was the saponification of an unknown
qualitative ester. In this experiment, I used qualitative information about the size,
information to shape, etc. of the soap product and quantitative information from
NMR and IR spectroscopy to ultimately identify the chemical formula
present a logical
and structure of the unknown ester. In this report, we had to analyze
argument based each piece of evidence and specifically explain how each component
on supporting supported the structure we had proposed for the ester. If data did not
data fully support our structure, we needed to explain what could have
gone wrong or why the data may have shown discrepancies.

In the genetics laboratory, my group members and I worked on

quantifying the genetic diversity of a plant species and presented our
research findings in a group lab manuscript. We were given
quantitative and qualitative data about the plant species'
environment and genetic composition and were instructed to obtain
some of the information on our own from laboratory experiments.
 Once we analyzed the information given to us and the results of our
experiments, we came together to explain to the instructor and class
what we had discovered. By analyzing each individual piece of data,
we were able to conclude information about the overall genetic
diversity of the plant species.

IV. Self Reflection and Assessment

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Demonstrate X One of our first assignments in my philosophy class was to write a paper
ethical decision- detailing a time we needed to make a difficult moral decision. We were
making grounded encouraged to write about a situation where there wasn't a "right" and
in philosophical "wrong" answer and needed to describe how we ultimately made our
decision while engaging with Sophocles' Antigone. Based on the ethics
inquiry
foundation we had created during the first two weeks of class, we needed to
explain how we reached our conclusion and if there were aspects of ethical
decision making that we had learned thus far that were applicable to
everyday life situations. We also had to comment on other classmates'
papers as they related to the concepts of morality and ethics.

After studying various philosophers such as Aristotle, Mill, and Kant, my

philosophy class once again required us to write a paper on one philosopher's
theory of ethical navigation. I chose to analyze Aristotle's ethical theory,
explaining how his text provides us with real-world tools and suggestions for
how to deal with ethically challenging situations in life. Using references from
the text, I was able to explain how we can apply Aristotle's theory to our own
lives and explain some key concepts such as happiness, deliberation, and
character. Writing this paper allowed me to draw connections between
various philosophers' theories and my own decision making, influencing how
I approach difficult situations.

Apply Catholic X In microbiology, my group mates and I conducted a final presentation on how
social teaching to HIV disproportionately affects men and women living in Africa. We chose this
the analysis of disenfranchised group because of their low financial and economic statuses
contemporary and explained to our classmates how the HIV rates in Africa are much higher
than other places in the world. The purpose of this presentation was to
social issues
explain to our classmates why we are obligated to help this group of people
according to CST principles. We discussed themes of "Life and Dignity of the
Human Person" and "Rights and Responsibilities" in our argument.

In senior integrative seminar, we were tasked with writing a letter to the

president or vice president about a social issue that was meaningful to us. I
 chose to write a letter to the president about the effects of racism on mental
health and explained why we should begin a movement in favor of love and
acceptance of Americans of all races. In this letter, I mentioned the CST
theme of "Rights and Responsibilities," explaining that all humans have
fundamental rights and that it is our job to ensure that the rights of all of
God's creation are being respected and valued. With recent protests
regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and living in an unprecedented
time of divide and anguish in America, it is increasingly important that we
continue to use Catholic principles to raise awareness about these injustices
we see everyday.

Recognize the X In my freshman religion course, we performed an in-depth analysis of

value of diverse Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. During this time, we studied the
spiritual and fundamental concepts of each and how they are similar and different from
religious one another. My favorite part of the course was the day we played a game
comparing Islam and Christianity. Our professor put a quote, either from the
perspectives
Bible or Quran, on the board, and we had to guess which book it was from.
This activity was my favorite because it allowed me to see that Islam was not
meant to be a religion of violence and aggression like ISIS represents, but
rather a religion of peace. I even found that some of the biblical quotes were
quite aggressive compared to the quotes in the Quran, which challenged my
classical Christian thinking that I had been raised with.

During my sophomore religion course, we studied the religious writings of

various philosophers, such as Anselm, Nietzsche, and Aquinas. During this
time, we compared the writings of each and used our class time to draw
conclusions about religion and spirituality overall, attempting to answer the
question, “Does God exist?” Studying all of these different perspectives
allowed me to appreciate the varying ways in which we perceive God (or a
lack of) and helped me to understand where different theories come from. It
also made me feel encouraged that we can overcome religious differences
and bond over what we have in common to reach common goals.

Integrate the X To fulfill my community service requirement for Alpha Lambda Delta Honor
practice of Society, I volunteered at Otterbein Church. I helped pass out a free meal to
charity with the the community and got the chance to speak to many of the attendees. Giving
skill of justice back to the community by volunteering was much more rewarding than I
expected. I had the opportunity to help people who are members of the
church but unable to provide a healthy dinner for their families and
themselves, which made me even more thankful for my family and the
sacrifices they have always made for me. Many of the members that
attended this meal are devoted followers of Christ, and some of them even
offered to help the workers pass out food once they had finished. Seeing
their willingness to help and kindness made me even more compassionate
towards them, forcing me to realize the unfortunate and unfair effects of
poverty.

Exercise X While taking a political science class with Dr. O'Dell, I wrote a final research
responsible paper on the unfair treatment of immigrants at the US border. After
freedom and civic consulting primary and secondary source articles, I crafted an argument in
engagement favor of respectfully treating immigrants during the citizenship process. I
used this research to properly educate myself both on the situation at the
based on an
informed value border and the principles of the United Nations, allowing me to present an
system informed argument to my classmates for why we should be acting differently.
Consulting resources from the UDHR and UN, I explained why we should
treat all immigrants fairly regardless of their financial, economic, and social
statuses. I felt comfortable speaking about my paper in front of my
classmates because I knew I had done extensive research and could back up
my argument with such. By writing this paper, I helped inform others about
the duties we have to each other and shed a light on cruelty and injustice
within the American governmental system.