Category Archives: Liberal Arts & Sciences – Electives
All Liberal Arts Elective Courses: Quantitative Reasoning, Physical Science OR Life Science, Societies & the Social Sciences, Expressive Culture, General Liberal Arts Electives
This course covers the fundamentals of human brain development from birth to young adulthood. The focus is on normal brain functioning, but illustrative pathological development and dysfunctional conditions are reviewed as well, such as developmental dyslexia, autistic disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Once students have developed a foundational knowledge of neurocognitive functioning, the course addresses three additional sections that reflect methods of examining brain-based activity: observation, assessment, and intervention. At the end of each section, students should have a greater understanding of the neurocognitive developmental perspective and be able to apply their knowledge of brain-based skill sets to understanding the environmental demands that children and teens confront, including learning in school, handling complex social interactions, remembering autobiographical experiences, and managing emotional reactions. Students read a sampling of research articles, relevant clinical materials, and textbooks chapters.
Consuming media has far outstripped reading storybooks or playing make-believe as the average American child’s favorite pastime. Children between the ages of two and 18 spend an average of five-and-a-half hours a day using some form of media. This course reviews the current literature on how media use affects children’s mental health, as well as their cognitive, emotional, and social development. Designed for those who wish to learn to think critically, this course provides a comprehensive, research-oriented review of how children and adolescents are influenced by the media. Discussions include an examination of controversial issues, such as media’s effects on children’s violent behavior and substance use, as well as the potential benefits of media.
After spending our early lives with our parents, what can we say about how they influenced our personalities and development? How have our parents affected what we learn, how we act, and how we manage our health? Just as you have wondered about these questions, so have scientists and professionals. We study parenting styles in detail to identify qualities that foster healthy child development. The course reviews research on the importance of parenting practices within a family context. Students also learn how to interact effectively with parents, how to mobilize parents, and what efforts have been successful in changing detrimental parenting actions. This course is for the curious and those interested in careers in education, health, and mental health.
Clinical practice and public policy in child mental health is too often driven by the media, conventional wisdom, and prejudice rather than by scientific data. Evidence-based clinical care seeks to guide practitioners in the critical appraisal of data on risk factors, prevention, and treatment. This course is designed for those who wish to read the health research literature and draw their own conclusions. It provides a practical means to learn and apply research methods and focuses on the knowledge and skills needed to design, carry out, and evaluate a research study. Discussion of topical “hot-button” issues, such as the apparent “epidemic” of certain diagnoses, the influence of the environment or culture on child mental health, and the risks/benefits of widely prescribed medications, are combined with a systematic review of the existing evidence base on current empirically supported treatment for child mental health problems.
What makes kids do bad things? Who is accountable for their acts? How can we prevent childhood violence? In this course we will explore these questions and seek to understand the spectrum of “bad” behavior from biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives. We will address broad topics ranging from the nature vs. nurture debate to biased media reporting to medicating disruptive behaviors. We will examine the increased exposure to media violence and its influence on children and adolescents; how the criminal justice system responds to delinquent behavior; and gender differences in disruptive behavior. We will study atrocities perpetrated by children and adolescents, the growing scientific literature detailing neurodevelopment as it relates to behavior, and historical descriptions of disruptive behavior and delinquency. Students will analyze case studies, debate controversial issues (e.g., the influence of violent gaming), and review online discussion boards in an effort to determine sensible efforts aimed at prevention and treatment.
While psychopathology courses are commonplace among undergraduate psychology curricula, courses focusing on child and adolescent psychopathology are relatively rare. More novel still is the opportunity to receive instruction in child and adolescent psychopathology from practicing psychiatrists and psychologists at an internationally renowned clinical and research center. Through lecture presentations and discussions, this course focuses on disease etiology, epidemiology, phenomenology, nosology, and diagnosis. It engages students in a critical review of common child and adolescent psychopathology and challenges social and cultural assumptions of what constitutes ?normal? vs. ?pathological? behavior, cognition, and emotion. Students also complete one practicum by participating with a clinician (psychologist or psychiatrist) during the evaluation of a child or adolescent patient at the NYU Child Study Center.
The ability to understand “what makes a good story well told” is a skill that is crucial to your growth as a filmmaker whether you become a writer, director, producer, actor, editor, cinematographer, etc. Storytelling Strategies looks at how narrative stories work through an examination of the structural and mythic elements first established by the ancient Greek playwrights and recognized by Aristotle in his “Poetics” thousands of years ago. The course continues this examination up to and including such contemporary story models as Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” as well as the current Hollywood paradigm, “the three-act structure.” We will seek to find those principles that form the backbone of successful narrative screenplays and contribute to a film’s ability to resonate with an audience. The lecture is for analysis. The recitations are for applying what you have learned, through writing exercises and a completed short screenplay. This course allocates as Scriptwriting for Film & TV majors. Course may not be repeated.
Art of the “age of the cathedrals”—including architecture, sculpture, stained glass, manuscript illumination, wall painting, luxury arts, and tapestry—from origins of the Gothic style in the 12th-century Ile-de-France through the early 15th century. Considers artistic developments in light of religious, historical, political, social, and cultural contexts of their creation. Topics include: Gothic patrons, artists, builders, and art-making; lay literacy and the patronage and reception of art; the cult of the Virgin and the arts; the Gothic image as bearer of religious, political, and social values and ideologies; arts of chivalry and courtly love; naturalism and developments in portraiture; the roles of art in devotional and mystical experience; Gothic art and late medieval notions of vision and the self.
An introductory survey of the history of South Asia from 2000 B.C.E. to 1200 C.E., with an emphasis on the Indian subcontinent. From the Indus Valley culture to the present day, artistic production has played a critical role in the transmission of religious beliefs and the development of cultural systems in and around South Asia. Diverse regions were linked by trade, politics, and cultural relationships, and interaction can be charted through the changing forms and functions of art. We consider the historical circumstances surrounding the production of South and Southeast Asian art, as well as the problems that art historians face when trying to interpret the surviving evidence. We look at art in a variety of media, including, but not limited to, architecture, urban form, sculpture, painting, and performance.
Begins with El Greco in Italy and Toledo, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Murillo, Ribera, and Valdés Leal before moving to the 18th century (the Tiepolo family, Meléndez). Defines Spain in the 16th and 17th century as a global power by considering colonial-era art in such New World centers as Mexico City and Lima. The focus then shifts to the art of Francisco de Goya and the projection of Spanish art into the modern era.
As in ARTH-UA 91, students examine artistic centers from two vast adjoining regions, in this case South and Southeast Asia, both of which include a wide variety of cultures. Includes monuments of Pakistan, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Although the two courses use the same approach and are designed to be complementary, either one may be taken without the other.
Art of Western civilization between Constantine and the Renaissance (300 to 1500 in northern Europe, 1400 in Italy). Topics: Christian beliefs underlying medieval art; acceptance and rejection of classical tradition and the roles of non-classical traditions in medieval art; stylistic transformations in medieval art in the context of medieval society; development of abbey and cathedral, monumental sculpture and painting, mosaics, stained glass, and fresco, as well as manuscript illumination, ivories, metalwork, and panel painting.
Traces the evolution of the painted altarpiece in relation to its liturgical, devotional, and cultic functions, with consideration of artistic personalities such as Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti. Studies great fresco cycles in churches and chapels from the point of view of artists (including Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi), patron(s), and program. Surveys key monuments of religious and civic architecture and their painted and sculpted decoration within the historical and political contexts of the emerging Italian city-states. Topics include: mendicant orders and the arts; Black Death and art; status of the artist; gender and social class in representation and patronage.
Formerly ARTH-UA 80. Identical to SCA-UA 787. Survey of art of West and Central Africa and the South Pacific. Although art from these areas is popularly thought of in terms of its impact on the West, the art is primarily studied in relation to its meaning and function in its own society, where art socializes and reinforces religious beliefs, reflects male and female roles, and validates leadership. Films and field trips to a museum and gallery supplement classroom lectures.
Major traditions in painting, sculpture, and architecture of the native peoples of North America, Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America. Material from pre-contact times through the 20th century. Deals with questions of theory and differences between indigenous and Western world views; the relationship of the arts to shamanism, priesthoods, guardian spirits, deities, and beliefs regarding fauna and flora; impact of European contact on indigenous arts and civilization.
This course is intended as an introduction to the arts of Islam during a period of dynamic cultural and political change in the Islamic world. Beginning with the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the course traces the development of Islamic art and architecture through the eras of Timur, the ?gunpowder empires? (the Mughals, Ottomans, Safavids) and European colonialism, to the art of the nation-state in the 20th-century.
Achievements of the chief painters of the 15th century with special attention to the Tuscan tradition. A brief introduction to Giotto and his time provides background for the paintings of Masaccio and his artistic heirs (Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca). In the later 15th century, social and cultural changes generated by power shifts from Medici Florence to papal Rome also affected art patronage, creating new tensions and challenges for artists and fostering the emergence of new modes of visualization. Topics include the role of pictorial narrative, perspective, and mimesis; the major techniques of Renaissance painting; and the relationship of painting to the other visual arts.
Formerly ARTH-UA 91. Identical to EAST-UA 91. Offered periodically. 4 points. An introduction to the art and culture of the Far East. The materials are presented in a chronological and thematic approach corresponding to the major dynastic and cultural changes of China, Korea, and Japan. Teaches how to “read” works of art in order to interpret a culture or a historical period; it aims at a better understanding of the similarities and differences among the cultures of the Far East.
An overview of history and theory. Presents a series of lectures and case studies examining such issues as the birth of the museum, the role played by world’s fairs and biennials, the impact of collectors, the art market, and the gallery system. Visits to museums, galleries, and auction houses in New York.
Identical to MEDI-UA 1. Students who have taken ARTH-UA 3 or ARTH-UA 4 will not receive credit for this course. Introduction to the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from ancient times to the dawn of the Renaissance, emphasizing the place of the visual arts in the history of civilization. Includes the study of significant works in New York museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Brooklyn Museum.