Amsterdam University College - Fakulta humanitních studií

97 Pages·2010·0.73 MB·English

Amsterdam University College
AUC Course Catalogue

AUC Course Catalogue 2
ACC111 Academic English I......................................................6
ACC121 Basic Research Methods and Statistics ...........................7
ACC122 Calculus.....................................................................7
ACC123 Calculus and Linear Algebra II ......................................8
ACC131 Dutch I......................................................................9
ACC132 French I.....................................................................9
ACC133 German I.................................................................10
ACC134 Spanish I.................................................................10
ACC135 Arabic I...................................................................10
ACC141 Identity and Diversity in a Global City..........................11
ACC142 Performing Arts ........................................................12
ACC143/SSC Chinese Studies........................................................12
ACC151 Big Questions in Science............................................13
ACC152 Big Questions in Society.............................................14
ACC153 Big Questions in History.............................................15
ACC154 Big Books ................................................................15
ACC161 Logic, Information Flow and Argumentation..................16
ACC211 Academic English II...................................................17
ACC221 Basic Research Methods and Statistics II......................18
ACC222 Qualitative Research Methods.....................................19
ACC231 Dutch II...................................................................19
ACC232 French II .................................................................19
ACC233 German II................................................................20
ACC234 Spanish II................................................................20
ACC235 Arabic II..................................................................21
ACC241/HUM Amsterdam in the Golden Age.....................................21
ACC261/SSC/HUM Philosophy...............................................................21
ACC262/SSC/HUM Philosophy of Science................................................22
ACC263/SSC/HUM Ethics......................................................................22
ACC311/HUM Creative Writing........................................................23
ACC321 Advanced Statistics...................................................23
ACC322 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods.......................24
ACC331 Dutch III .................................................................24
ACC332 French III................................................................25
ACC333 German III...............................................................25
ACC334 Spanish III...............................................................25
ACC335 Arabic III.................................................................26
HUM111 Theme Course I Introduction to Cities and Cultures - The
City and its Others: Renaissance Florence to Revolutionary
Paris.......................................................................27
HUM121 Modernism and Postmodernism in Theory and Fiction....28
HUM131 Film History..............................................................29
HUM141 Periods and Genres...................................................30
HUM151 Communication.........................................................30
HUM152 Multimedia...............................................................31
HUM161 Text and Artefact in Cultural Theory and Practice...........32
HUM162 Standard Methods in Historical Analysis........................33
HUM221/233 Adaptation Studies....................................................34
HUM222 Fiction and Finance through History.............................34
HUM223/SSC Literature and the History of the Body..........................35
HUM231 The Cinematic City....................................................35
HUM232 Film and the Body.....................................................36
HUM241 Representing the City through History..........................36
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HUM242 Art and the Subject...................................................37
HUM251 Perspectives on Games..............................................37
HUM252 Information Visualisation............................................38
HUM253 Narrative across Media...............................................38
HUM261 Texts and (Moving) Image..........................................39
HUM262 History II.................................................................39
HUM263/SSC Addiction and the Modern Subject ...............................40
HUM264/SSC World Religions: History and Politics............................40
HUM311 Theme course: The Global City and its Problems (Cities and
Cultures).................................................................40
HUM321 Literature in the Age of Globalisation ...........................41
HUM331 Film Auteurs.............................................................41
HUM341 The Art Market and Culture Industry............................41
HUM351 Mediated Communication and Games...........................42
HUM352/SSC Media Psychology......................................................42
HUM361 The History of Ideas: Power and Change......................43
SSC111 Theme course: Introduction to Social Policy..................45
SSC121 Sustainable Urban Development..................................45
SSC131 Economic Thought in a Historical Perspective................46
SSC141 Law and Society........................................................46
SSC151 Classical and Modern Political Thought .........................47
SSC171 Classical and Modern Sociological Thought....................48
SSC181 Classical and Modern Anthropological Thought...............49
SSC191/SCI/HUM Theme course: Introduction to Information,
Communication, Cognition..........................................50
SSC192 Psychology..............................................................50
SSC193 Linguistics...............................................................51
SSC221 Environmental and Resource Management....................52
SSC231 Fundamentals of Micro- and Macro-Economics...............52
SSC232 International Political Economy (IPE) ...........................52
SSC233 International Trade, Growth and Development ..............53
SSC241 Comparative Law......................................................53
SSC242 Human Rights Law and Politics....................................53
SSC243/SCI Intellectual Property…………………………………………………………..53
SSC251 International Comparative Democracy..........................54
SSC252 The Politics of Difference............................................55
SSC261 International Relations Theory and Practice...................55
SSC262 European Integration.................................................55
SSC271 Comparative Modern Societies....................................56
SSC273 Inequality and Poverty...............................................56
SSC281/HUM Community and Society in a Globalised World...............56
SSC291 Developmental Psychology........................................57
SSC292 Cognitive Psychology.................................................57
SSC293/SCI Brain and Cognition...................................................58
SSC311 Theme course: Globalisation (Social Systems)...............58
SSC331 Advanced Micro-Economics.........................................59
SSC332 The Promotion and Regulation of the Economy..............59
SSC333 Advanced Macro-Economics........................................60
SSC341 International Law......................................................60
SSC342/SS334 International Economic Law........................................60
SSC352 European and International Institutions........................61
SSC353/HUM History of National Civil Rights Movements ...................61
SSC361 International Crimes..................................................62
SSC371 Violence and Conflict.................................................62
SSC372 Migration, Integration and Diversity.............................62
SSC373 The Development of Social Policy................................63
SSC381 Urban Life and Society...............................................63
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SSC382/SCI Medical Anthropology ................................................63
SSC391 Theme course: Games and Learning (Information,
Communication, Cognition) ........................................64
SSC392 Psycholinguistics.......................................................64
SCI112 Theme course: Introduction to Life, Evolution, Universe..66
SCI111/SSC Theme course: Introduction to Energy, Climate and
Sustainability ...........................................................66
SCI113/SSC Theme course: Introduction to Health and Well-being ....68
SCI121 Introduction to Geological Sciences..............................68
SCI131 Electrons, Waves and Relativity...................................69
SCI132 Introduction to Physics ..............................................70
SCI141 Introduction to Chemistry ..........................................71
SCI151 Plant Biology and Eco-systems....................................72
SCI152 Introduction to Biology ..............................................72
SCI161 The Human Body – Anatomy and Physiology.................73
SCI171 Introduction to Public Health.......................................74
SCI181 Introduction to Environmental Sciences........................75
SCI191 Programming Your World...........................................76
SCI226 Complex Functions....................................................76
SCI227 Dynamical Systems...................................................77
SCI228 Numerical Mathematics..............................................77
SCI231 The Physics of Heat...................................................77
SCI232 Astrophysics and Cosmology.......................................78
SCI233 Quantum Physics......................................................78
SCI239 Physics Lab..............................................................79
SCI241 Metabolic Biochemistry..............................................79
SCI242 Medicinal Chemistry ..................................................80
SCI243 Environmental Chemistry/Eco-Toxicology*....................80
SCI249 Diagnostics and Analytical Chemistry Lab.....................80
SCI251 Genomics and Bioinformatics......................................81
SCI252 Molecular Cell Biology................................................82
SCI253 Evolution and Developmental Biology...........................82
SCI261 The Human Body II*.................................................83
SCI262 Hormones and Homeostasis........................................83
SCI263 Immunology.............................................................84
SCI264/SSC Brain and Cognition...................................................85
SCI269 Cell Biology and Physiology Lab...................................85
SCI271 Nutrition and Health..................................................86
SCI272 International Public Health .........................................86
SCI273 Epidemiology............................................................87
SCI279 Brain Lab.................................................................87
SCI281/SCI282 Hydrology and Watershed Management........................88
SCI283 System Earth ...........................................................88
SCI292 Text Mining and Collective Intelligence.........................88
SCI293 Intelligent Systems...................................................89
SCI294 Advanced Programming.............................................89
SCI311 Theme course Energy, Climate and Sustainability: a case
study ......................................................................90
SCI312 Theme course Life, Evolution, Universe: Astroparticle
Physics....................................................................90
SCI313 Theme course Life, Evolution, Universe/ Health and Well-
being: From Systems Biology to Translational Medicine ..90
SCI314/SSC Theme course Health and Well-being: Lifestyle and Disease
..............................................................................91
SCI321 Machine Learning......................................................91
SCI322 Artificial Intelligence Programming ..............................91
SCI331 Nanoscience.............................................................91
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SCI333 Condensed Matter Physics..........................................92
SCI341 Structural Biology.....................................................92
SCI342 Innovative Drug Discovery .........................................93
SCI351 Epigenetic Regulations...............................................93
SCI361 Infectious Diseases ...................................................93
SCI362 Cancer Biology and Treatment....................................93
SCI363 Cardiovascular Diseases.............................................94
SCI 364 Neurosciences..........................................................94
SCI365 Mechanisms of Disease..............................................94
SCI371 Addiction.................................................................94
SCI372 Ageing*...................................................................95
SCI373 Cultures and Health Care ...........................................95
SCI381/SSC Introduction to GIS...................................................95
SCI382 Paleoclimatology.......................................................96

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Description of Courses in the Academic Core

ACC111 Academic English I
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
All students (apart from native speakers) should have exit level grade 8 in English
VWO (or comparable). Remedial grammar work will be offered via self-study.

Learning Outcomes
Students
 develop an awareness of the communicative competences, the language
skills and the attitudes to communicative performance that are required
for becoming a successful junior member of a discourse community in
their chosen field (e.g. genre conventions, attention to linguistic and
presentational detail);
 develop lexical and grammatical competences that are appropriate for
academic genres and that are sensitive to the mode of production (in plain
English: they learn the differences between academic speaking and
academic writing);
 gain insight into the structure of text types associated with specific genres
in various disciplines within the three relevant domains of science, social
science and humanities;
 gain insight into the various aspects of information literacy.

Skills-specific outcomes are as follows:

Reading: Students can understand the rhetorical structure of texts at the
macro level (in order to be able to scan them quickly) and at the
micro level.
Presenting: Students can with confidence present a short talk using PowerPoint
on a subject relating to a big question.
Writing: Students can write a short academic paper in which they report on
what others have said about an aspect of a Big Question, and in
which they offer a critique thereon.

Course description
Attention will be paid to reading (30%), presenting (20%) and writing (50%).
a. Reading: Students will study a selection of texts from textbooks and academic
journals relating to disciplines within each of the three relevant domains (science,
social science, humanities). The texts will include surveys, research reports and
reviews. Activities will be geared to developing techniques for identifying
rhetorical patterns.
b. Presenting: Students will do PowerPoint evaluation exercises, audience
interaction work (including gesturing), and presentation structure practice. Where
necessary they will do remedial work on pronunciation via a mix of self-study and
tutorials.
c. Writing (macro): Students will produce two texts focusing on providing an
overview of a limited amount of literature on a specific issue, plus a critique of
the literature; skills will be built up by doing small assignments (e.g. introducing
issues, announcing plans, summarising, critiquing) with intensive feedback.
d. Writing and presenting (micro): students will do a substantial amount of basic
exercise work in order to extend their linguistic competences to support the first
steps that they take towards achieving C1 communicative competence in both
writing and presenting. Attention will be paid to intonation, grammar, academic
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vocabulary, punctuation as a means for organising information flow, and textual
cohesion.

Assessment
Students will complete a number of small assignments for each skill, including
two written texts of ca. 1200 words plus a 5–10 minute presentation on the
second of the written pieces. This second written text will look at how a particular
aspect of a Big Question is viewed from different disciplines, and will include a
critique.

ACC121 Basic Research Methods and Statistics
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
Mathematics at exit level VWO Wiskunde A1 (or comparable). Remedial work will
be offered via self-study.

Learning Outcomes
Students are able to understand and evaluate elementary statistical and
numerical reasoning. They acquire a basic knowledge of research methods and
statistics and are able to apply descriptive statistical methods.

Course description
This course provides a general introduction into the methods of behavioural and
social research. It covers four general fields: the foundations of behavioural and
social sciences, research design, data collection and data analysis.

Topics include:
 The role of theory
 Causality
 Descriptive, explorative and testing research
 Empirical cycle
 Conceptualisation and scale construction
 Populations and samples
 Research designs
 Experimental and quasi-experimental designs
 Survey research
 Independent, dependent, control and confounding variables
 Validity and reliability
 Collecting and representing data
 Descriptive statistics (mean, variance, standard deviation)
 Introduction to basic stochastics (probability, discrete and continuous
stochastic variables)

Assessment
Students will complete a number of assignments and take a final exam.

ACC122 Calculus
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
Mathematics at exit level Wiskunde B1,2 (or comparable). Remedial work will be
offered via self-study.
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Learning Outcomes
This course provides students with the basic techniques in calculus and linear
algebra.

Course description
The emphasis in the course is on differential and integral calculus in one and
several variables.

Topics include:
 Limits and continuity
 Differentiation: definition, meaning and rules; extreme values
 Inverse functions, exponential and logarithmic functions
 Linear approximations and taylor polynomials
 Integration, sums and areas, the fundamental theorem, methods for
computing antiderivatives
 Applications of integration to area, volume, lengths of curves
 First order differential equations
 Sequences, series and power series
 Vectors and coordinate geometry in 3-space
 Functions of two variables, partial derivatives
 Multiple integration and iterated integration

Assessment
Students will complete a number of assignments and take a final exam.

ACC123 Calculus and Linear Algebra II
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
Calculus

Learning Outcomes
The first part of this course aims to develop a good understanding of concepts
and ideas in linear algebra, as well as the ability to perform matrix computations.
Based on this, the second part extends the calculus of one variable into vector
calculus.

Course description
Tools for the description and analysis of multi-dimensional vector spaces are
introduced, studied, and trained in exercises and assignments. This will be done
in sessions that combine lecturing and problem solving. The material will be
applied to the calculus of functions between multi-dimensional spaces, and results
in the classical theorems by Green, Gauss and Stokes.

Topics include:
Linear algebra
 Linear equations, matrices and vectors
 Subspaces, dimension and rank
 Matrix with respect to a pair of bases
 Determinants
 Eigenvalues, eigenvectors, diagonalisation
 Inner products and orthogonality
 Schur decomposition
 Singular Value decomposition
 (Vector) calculus
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 Vector functions and curves
 Gradient and directional derivatives
 Vector and scalar fields
 Line integrals and vector fields
 Surfaces and surface integrals
 Divergence and rotation
 Theorems of Green, Gauss and Stokes

ACC131 Dutch I
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
None

Learning Outcomes
Students learn to handle a variety of uncomplicated, basic communicative tasks,
including understanding spoken Dutch, answering questions and reading texts.

Course description
Students learn essential verbs, nouns and cases while working to build vocabulary
and learn the basics of Dutch grammar and syntax. Students practice listening,
speaking and reading skills. Students will also be introduced to Dutch culture
through short texts from the internet, magazines and newspapers.

Assessment
Students will complete assignments for each skill (listening, speaking and
reading). Students take both a mid-term exam and a final exam.

ACC132 French I
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
Elementary French. All students will take a grammar and vocabulary intake test,
to determine whether remedial work is necessary. Remedial grammar work will
be offered via self-study.

Learning Outcomes
Students learn to handle a variety of basic communicative tasks, including
understanding spoken French, speaking French, reading texts and writing short
texts.

Course description
Students learn essential verbs, nouns and cases while working to build vocabulary
and learn the basics of French grammar and syntax. Students practice listening,
speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will also be introduced to French
culture through short texts from the internet, magazines and newspapers.

Assessment
Students will complete assignments for each skill (listening, speaking and
reading). Students take both a mid-term exam and a final exam.

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ACC133 German I
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
Elementary German. All students will take a grammar and vocabulary intake test,
to determine whether remedial work is necessary. Remedial grammar work will
be offered via self-study.

Learning Outcomes
Students learn to handle a variety of basic communicative tasks, including
understanding spoken German, speaking German, reading texts and writing short
texts.

Course description
Students learn essential verbs, nouns and cases while working to build vocabulary
and learn the basics of German grammar and syntax. Students practice listening,
speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will also be introduced to German
culture through short texts from the internet, magazines and newspapers.

Assessment
Students will complete assignments for each skill (listening, speaking and
reading). Students take both a mid-term exam and a final exam.

ACC134 Spanish I
Credit points
6 ecp

Prerequisites
None

Learning Outcomes
Students learn to handle a variety of uncomplicated, basic communicative tasks,
including understanding spoken Spanish, answering questions and reading texts.

Course description
Students learn essential verbs, nouns and cases while working to build vocabulary
and learn the basics of Spanish grammar and syntax. Students practice listening,
speaking and reading skills. Students will also be introduced to Spanish culture
through short texts from the internet, magazines and newspapers.

Assessment
Students will complete assignments for each skill (listening, speaking and
reading). Students take both a mid-term exam and a final exam.

ACC135 Arabic I
Credit points
6ecp

Prerequisites
None

Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to read and write the Arabic
alphabet. Students learn to handle a variety of uncomplicated, basic
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