<p>So I just thought I'd make a thread listing the classes I've taken and/or heard about that fulfill AXLE and are easy and/or interesting. Hopefully others will contribute some classes so that incoming students will have a better idea as to what classes they should consider.</p>
<p>Humanities and the Creative Arts
ARTS 140 w/ Demay
ENGL 118W w/ Jellerson or Fusco
JS 136W w/ Klass</p>
<p>International Cultures
CLAS 130 w/ Kitchen
SOC 270 w/ Woods
SOC 277 w/ Klass</p>
<p>History and Culture of the United States
PSCI 100 w/ May</p>
<p>Mathematics and Natural Sciences
ASTR 102
EES 103 w/ Goodbred</p>
<p>Social and Behavioral Science
ECON 100 & 101 w/ Buckles
ECON 209 w/ Luea
MGRL 190 w/ Johnson</p>
<p>Perspectives
WGS 150 w/ Jellerson</p>
<p>Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MNS)
EES 113 Oceanography Lab (taught by TA) w/ Goodbred’s class </p>
<p>History and Culture of the United States (US)
HIST 115F Presidential Politics: College Studies, Social Movements, and Civic Activism
w/ Dalhouse
(Go to lectures by Nashville activists and get extra credit just by attending.)</p>
<p>International Cultures (INT)
HIST 230 20th-century Germany w/ Helmut Smith (2nd semester)<br>
TA grades both papers, midterm, and final. Smith lectures. </p>
<p>Note: S got an A in Oceanography and in the lab, an A- in Pres Politics and an A in German History. These–and the OP’s excellent suggestion of Oceanography–were his favorite classes. I have only a few suggestions since S is only a rising sophomore.</p>
<p>Any other suggestions for the Perspectives course?</p>
<p>My D really hated oceanography! She dropped the lab the first day. She felt it was the worst class she took all year-it was incredibly dry and uninteresting to her and even though she did well in the course it was hard for her to stay motivated to learn the material. She also noted a lot of cheating going on during the first test. Fortunately both the TA and the prof picked up on immediately even before some of the students complained and steps were taken to remedy that problem.
She will probably take either geology,astronomy,or “baby” chem or bio for her AXLE lab science.Supposedly the intro chem course is not supposed to be rigorous-one of her classmates never took chem in high school and found the course a breeze. Be aware that the observatory for the astronomy class is about 5-6 miles from campus. I don’t know how many times they have to go there for labs in astronomy.
I wonder if there may be more interest in oceanography since the Gulf oil spill. Perhaps that could make the course more relevant to those students like my daughter who are not that into science?</p>
<p>My S took Oceanography with Professor Goodbred with lab and really enjoyed it. He also took Astronomy (I think it was 102) with Prof. Stassum, which was actually one of his favorite classes. He really made it interesting and explained things well. He did say that understanding physics made it much easier. He didn’t take the lab on that one, so I can’t comment on that part.</p>
<p>hope4freeride - I don’t know about a “baby” chem class at Vandy. My D who is a Vandy junior looked for a lower level chem class at Vandy and only found the regular intro to chem which she has heard is pretty hard - at least it would be for her and she had two yrs in hs. Your D’s classmate sounds like one smart cookie to breeze through. I just wanted to toss that out for incoming students who might be deciding whether to register for chem.</p>
<p>^ No, there is a baby chem: intro chemistry, as opposed to general chemistry, which is what the pre-meds/engineers take. There’s also baby bio and baby physics, all three of which I’ve heard are relatively easy for someone not majoring in a science field.</p>
<p>Thanks karabee for the clarification. D did take the “baby physics” class which I believe is also known as “football physics” for the number of athletes who take the class.</p>
<p>Baby Bio is pretty relaxed and easy (especially the 2nd semester course)</p>
<p>Is the lab required with the 103 Oceanography class, or can it be taken separately?</p>
<p>Lab is not required for Oceanography, but I believe there is a requirement for a lab science.</p>
<p>I HIGHLY recommend that everyone take Intro to Astronomy ASTR 102 (with or without the lab. the lab is interesting, but not really necessary unless you just want to fulfill requirements) with Professor Weintraub. I wouldn’t recommend it with any other professor because he uses a different curriculum than the others use. His is simply fascinating. He focuses the course on the question, “How Old is the Universe?” and ties everything he teaches into that question. He doesn’t focus much on the solar system (because we have a solar system course that can be taken later on, and because the solar system itself isn’t incredibly important in the grand scheme of the entire universe) or on some other things that you might deem interesting, like black holes, etc., but this is just because he’s focusing on what is truly important and on what scientists today are really interested in. The class is fabulous. He’s interesting and posts powerpoints online that he uses in class, and his textbook is very readable compared to others I’ve used. It’s not a difficult course either.</p>
<p>hahahahah: Yeah, I never even really bothered looking into any other Perspectives courses. Sorry. Before I registered, I asked my friend on the football team what class I should take for Perspectives and he told me to take WGS 150, preferably the W section. I just took the regular section and like half of the students were athletes.</p>
<p>One of my friends took Intro to Ethics last semester and got a B+. He said the class was pretty hard/time consuming and he was surprised that he didn’t do worse. </p>
<p>I’ve had a few friends recommend Human Sexuality, which is in the PSYC dept., but I sat in on a few classes and thought it was overcrowded and pretty boring.</p>
<p>This link has all of the AXLE classifications for next semester…
<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cas/docs/Fall%202010%20Course%20Offerings%20by%20AXLE%20Category.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cas/docs/Fall%202010%20Course%20Offerings%20by%20AXLE%20Category.pdf</a></p>
<p>^Eh I took Into to Ethics last semester for my perspectives course and got an A… I went to class in the beginning of the semester…umm…sparingly, and after like 1/3 of the semester had passed I honestly stopped going altogether. Lachs is a cool guy and really funny but to be honest he just doesn’t teach you that much more than you’ll learn by reading the books. And speaking of reading the books, I read the first few and not the rest. The reason I could still get an A is because the class is COMPLETELY based on just like 3 essays you write (and you can revise them, LOL) and volunteer hours and the final exam. Volunteering just needs to be started early instead of put off till the last minute. The final exam questions are given to you in advance for you to prepare and then you write an essay on one of them. The class is dead easy.</p>
<p>^I was going to take Ethics but decided against it, might take it in the spring
Have you taken Scientific Revolution, Im taking it to satisfy the perspectives req</p>
<p>I didn’t take that, ethics was my perspectives course. I’ve taken these courses so if anyone has any questions about them or the professors I’ll be happy to answer via PM -</p>
<p>Math 175 - Multivariable Calculus - with Suvaina
Astronomy 102 - Intro to Astronomy - with Weintraub
Astronomy 103 - Intro to Astronomy Lab - with “Schriver” but that means you’ll never see him and only see TAs
Latin 212 - Roman Comedy - with Krauss
MUSL 115F - Music and Modernism - with Rose
Anthropology 101 - Intro to Anthropology - with Mitchell
Communication Studies 226 - Women, Rhetoric, and Social Change - with Dow
English 118W - Literature and Cultural Analysis - with Chapman (my section was Shakespeare on Film)
Philosophy 105 - Intro to Ethics - with Lachs
Math 204 - Linear Algebra - with Suvaina
Latin 206 - Cicero and the Humanist Tradition - with Johnson</p>