Course Descriptions

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 2, 6 and 7. This course is an interdisciplinary study of the social and cultural life of Native Americans, primarily the Plains Indians. Students consider traditional and contemporary expressions of Native peoples as well as the history from which these expressions spring, especially the impact that contact with European peoples had and continues to have on Native American ways of life.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 6 and 7. This course is a study of the contributions of women in the humanities as writers, artists and social reformers with emphasis on 20th century women. The course will incorporate individual studies of Quaker women, frontier women, African American women and Native American women.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 6 and 8. This course is a multi-disciplinary study designed to enhance international perspective on women in the humanities with emphasis on 21st-century women's cultural contributions as composers, artists and social reformers. The course will incorporate studies on women of China, Latin America and Europe.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 6 and 7. This course will explore the relationship between religion and the ongoing development of American culture, especially as it relates to the role diversity plays in American history, arts, entertainment and institutions. Students will explore the variety of religious traditions that have been a part of the American experience and how they impacted and adapted to a changing national identity. Topics may include Native American thought and colonialism, the part played by Protestantism in the development of American ideals, the role of race and immigration in American religious identity, and the contemporary struggle among traditional Christian thought, secularism, reclaimed primal religions and modern world religions.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 2 and 6. This course offers students an overview of the elements that comprise "telling stories on film." Students will study shot, angle, lighting, mise en scene, movement, editing, sound, etc. The course will also consider how film elements work to present various ideologies. Students will become familiar with open and closed forms and the distinctions between realism, classicism and formalism. Students will participate in film analysis using the concepts above.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 6 and 8. This course will introduce students to films from non-English speaking countries around the globe. The course will study stories and societies through cinema, readings and lecture. Students will consider their own worldview while they screen films and analyze multiple themes and ideas as a means of enriching their global perspective.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 2, 6 and 8. Developments in the arts, architecture, science, philosophy and education and studies in human interaction are often provoked by changes in technology. Early changes in military technology made it possible for civilizations to take charge of various places on the world's stage. However, over time, changes in how the world was understood, motivated by general advances in global exploration, astronomy and other sciences as well as specific inventions such as movable type, proved even more instrumental in driving people to new and different understandings of what it means to be human. This course explores how technology impacts developments in a culture's world view and tries to anticipate how future changes in technology might alter the course of otherwise established ways of life.

Meets MnTC Goal Areas 2 and 6. The term "hero" is sometimes used synonymously with the term "role model," and in this class we will identify what characteristics are present in the heroic figure as well as explore the motives of the hero. Why do we expect our heroes to suffer? The vast majority of heroes are single; why? Is it related to the notion of "incorruptibility," or is it to spare them the "hard decisions" (to save a spouse or three other strangers)? Are there links or analogies to the story of Jesus? What do we admire about heroes? Is it the chameleon property? What kinds of things can be considered "superpowers" and what do they represent figuratively, metaphorically, mythically, symbolically, morally and culturally? Are heroes archetypically different according to gender, or are heroes gender-neutral? Are heroes representatives of the culture they originate in, or are they products of that culture, or both? Are heroes representatives of a particular moral position, or are they a "generic good?" These are the types of questions we will explore in this class.

Standard sheet metal fittings will be constructed in this class. Familiarity with sheet metal shop equipment and various tools will be gained through the layout and construction of sheet metal projects. All fittings in this class will be found in standard duct applications.

This course explains DC and AC theory, beginning with mathematically solving and hooking up series DC circuits and advancing into solving and hooking up AC resistance in series, parallel and combination circuits. HVAC relays and contactors and furnace safety devices are studied and wired in the lab. There is a dual emphasis on reading and then hooking up and troubleshooting schematic drawings. Magnetism and the generation of AC transformers as applied to HVAC, inductors and inductance-resistance parallel and series combination circuits are solved using trigonometry. Capacitance is introduced and applied as a function in understanding AC motors.

This course covers the wiring of typical heating and cooling circuits, as well as the installation of heating and air conditioning systems.

This course includes an overview of various heating controls and appliances. Topics will include blueprints as applied to estimating heating and cooling loads; gas piping as installed in residential and light commercial jobs; safe heating, ventilating and air conditioning practices; various venting codes and requirements; and the sizing of furnaces, duct work and piping.

This course covers residential gas and oil heating units, primarily forced air furnaces. Emphasis is on understanding the sequence of operation, proper adjustment, efficiency measurement and safety. This course also includes the diagnosis and repair of malfunctioning furnaces.

The dynamics of handling fluid masses of air will be studied. The focus will be on moving and replacing air at given velocities, quantities and temperatures.

This course covers both hot water baseboard and in-floor heating, with emphasis on calculations involved in hydronic heating.