Bowdoin College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Students must earn at least one full credit for a letter grade in each of the following five distribution areas in order to graduate:
Difference, Power, and Inequity (DPI): These courses examine difference in terms of power and inequity. Students learn theories, methods, and skills to analyze structures of privilege and inequality. Students confront how such structures intersect with their own experiences.
Inquiry in the Natural Sciences (INS): These courses help students expand their understanding of the natural sciences through practices associated with questioning, measuring, modeling, and explaining the natural world.
International Perspectives (IP): These courses assist students in developing a critical understanding of the world beyond the United States. IP courses provide students with the tools necessary to analyze non-US cultures, societies, and states (including indigenous societies and sovereign nations within the United States and its territories), either modern or historical.
Mathematical, Computational, or Statistical Reasoning (MCSR): These courses enable students to use mathematics and quantitative models and techniques to understand the world around them either by learning the general tools of mathematics and statistics or by applying them in a subject area.
Visual and Performing Arts (VPA): These courses help students expand their understanding of artistic expression and judgment through creation, performance, and analysis of artistic work in the areas of dance, film, music, theater, and visual art.

Each department at Bowdoin has its own learning outcomes. The sustainability office pulled out all majors and minors whose outcomes are sustainability-focused or sustainability-supportive as per AASHE’s definitions of sustainability-focused and sustainability-supportive terms. The department chairs of majors and minors that had sustainability-focused or sustainability-supportive learning outcomes were contacted to verify that they agreed with our placing them in the certain category, and the number of graduates from those majors and minors was compared to the total class of 2022 graduates.

Biology Learning Outcomes(majors: 33 / minors: 7)
• Ecology (species interactions, population biology, ecosystem processes, natural history)
• Influence of biology on social issues (conservation, research practices, bioethics)
• Applying ecological and evolutionary concepts to contemporary environmental and social issues.
• Bioethics and social issues

Earth and Oceanographic Sciences Learning Outcomes(majors: 21 / minors: 3)
• Gain fluency within and ability to integrate among earth systems by focusing on surface earth processes, solid earth processes, and oceans.
• Recognize and communicate the connections between earth systems and society including human impacts on the earth, natural hazards and earth’s resources.

Environmental Studies Learning Outcomes (majors: 21 / minors: 2)
• Engage principles and methods of the humanities and the arts to consider ethical, cultural, historical, literary, and artistic dimensions of environmental questions.
• Engage principles and methods of the social sciences to analyze and evaluate political, economic, psychological, anthropological, and sociological dimensions of environmental questions.
• Be able to discern underlying values and criteria used to evaluate alternatives for addressing environmental problems.
• Be able to identify and engage various communities and stakeholders, while acknowledging questions of equity and power.