Argument and Inquiry Seminar Pre-Registration Instructions
The Argument and Inquiry (A & I) Seminar Pre-Registration Form, due by August 1, is your first opportunity to reserve a place in a Carleton College course—well in advance of the regular registration in late August. Argument and Inquiry Seminars are designed specifically with first-year students in mind.
Note: The terms "A & I Seminar" and "Pre-Registration" are used interchangeably.
Filling out the form is required. Successful completion of an A & I Seminar (which means you must earn at least a C-) is a graduation requirement.
What's Special About the Argument and Inquiry (A&I) Seminars?
Each fall term, the College offers over thirty 6-credit A&I seminars designed to introduce students to a liberal arts approach to learning and to develop the critical and creative skills they will need to thrive in academic work at Carleton.
Offered in many different subject areas across the curriculum, A&I courses share certain structural elements and a set of common goals. A&I courses are reserved for first-year students; they are small, discussion-based seminars, and carry the WR (writing rich) designation. Designed to foster students’ intellectual independence, these courses develop habits of critical thinking, clarify how scholars ask questions, and teach students how to find and evaluate information in reading and research and to use it effectively and ethically in constructing arguments.
Encouraging students to become collaborative learners and active members of Carleton’s learning and living community, A&I seminars are meant to strengthen students’ habits of cooperation with peers and offer opportunities and tools for critical reading, deliberative discussion, and effective college-level writing.
All the courses available for Fall 2012 are listed on the form; two of the options may need a little bit of explanation.
1) Dyad-Linked Courses
A dyad links an A&I seminar with a second course; students enroll simultaneously in two courses. This means you would be pre-registered for two of the three courses you’ll take in Fall term. For 2012-13, the dyad choice links Cognitive Science and Biology, around the theme of Origins and Minds. This dyad focuses on the specifics of evolutionary biology and the relevance of biological thought to the nature of human cognition, culture and ethics. Both courses substitute for an introductory course in these departments (so CGSC 100 substitutes for CGSC 130 and BIOL 125 – the second part of the dyad – is equivalent to BIOL 125 offered at other times of the year). This dyad is a good choice for individuals interested in exploring the relationship between the sciences and the humanities, and those interested in current views of human nature, genetics and culture.
2) FOCUS Courses
FOCUS, which stands for “Focusing on Cultivating Scientists,” is in its 6th year at Carleton. FOCUS is designed for students interested in science and promoting diversity in the sciences. FOCUS supports students through their entry into the study of science/math at Carleton and as they continue in the curriculum by creating a cohort which enrolls in classes together (in so far as this makes sense), meets regularly in a colloquium throughout the first year, and has an opportunity for work study in the sciences. Cohort activities continue throughout a student's four years at Carleton.