First-Year Friendly Courses to Explore

First-Year Friendly Courses

Looking to try something a little new during your first semester of college? Not sure what to take for that fourth class? You might want to check out these expanded descriptions of some cool courses. With very rare exceptions, 100-level courses are available and appropriate for first-year students, and students are encouraged to explore. This page offers some additional information on some interesting course options for first-year students, including some 200-level courses that departments have designated as appropriate options for incoming students. In addition to promising an engaging academic experience, each class offers the appropriate level of challenge for first-year students and fulfills one or more requirements for graduation.

Africana Studies (AFS)/History (HST) 272: African History and Society Since 1800

This course is meant to introduce students to selected historical themes and issues in the making of colonialism and postcolonial realities in Africa. The historical period that we will cover involves the 19th century up to the late 20th century. Given time constraints, we will focus on such topics of interest as exploration and mapping, power and political ideologies, imperial and colonial cultures, resistance to imperialism, decolonization, postcolonial nation-building, the neocolonialism, and Africa in the neoliberal order. We will try to link these issues to our lives in the 21st century. A variety of teaching/learning methods will be used in this course, including lectures, discussions, presentations, workshops, document analyses, and film projections.

Graduation Requirements Met: Africana Studies Major/Minor, History Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities, Global Understanding

Meeting Times: Tues/Thurs 10:00-11:15

Africana Studies (AFS) 280: African American English

African American English (AAE) is a language variety spoken by some African Americans, characterized by specific rules governing the arrangement of linguistic units to form words, sentences, and interpretations. In this course, we will explore four key aspects of AAE: its structural components, the role it plays in the speech community, its historical context, and the social and educational implications of its use.

Throughout the semester, we will investigate the linguistic foundations of AAE, examining its vocabulary, sound system, and grammar. Additionally, we will discuss various hypotheses regarding the origins of AAE, including influences from African, Creole, and English languages.

 Our study will culminate in an examination of the portrayal and utilization of AAE in literature and media, considering its representation and significance in cultural contexts.

Graduation Requirements Met: Africana Studies Major/Minor, Conceptualizing Diversity, Integrative Thinking-Interdisciplinary Course Requirement

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45

Anthropology (ANTH) 103: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

This course is a comparative study of social practices and cultural systems, using a series of case studies of non-Western and Western cultures, including our own. The course gives an overview of the history of cultural anthropology, major questions and theoretical debates, fieldwork and research methods, and the relevance of anthropology to the modern world.

Graduation Requirements Met: Anthropology Major/Minor, Global Understanding, Multiple Inquiries Social Science

Meeting Times: Section A: Tues/Thur 8:30-9:45; Section B: Tues/Thur 11:30-12:45; Section C: Tues/Thur 10:00-11:15

Anthropology (ANTH) 106: Introduction to Archaeology

This course studies how archaeologists and physical anthropologists reconstruct what people's lives were like in the past. The course uses case studies drawn from historical and ancient societies to examine how archaeology and physical anthropology contribute to anthropology's goal of understanding and comparing human behavior, religious beliefs, political structure, social organization, and economy. Students are introduced to the range of materials that archaeologists and physical anthropologists study, including burials, buildings, monumental art, trash, and texts. Students learn important theoretical concepts and methods.

Graduation Requirements Met: Anthropology Major/Minor, Global Understanding, Multiple Inquiries Social Science

Meeting Times: Section A: Mon/Wed/Fri 10:00-10:50; Section B: Mon/Wed/Fri: 11:00-11:50

Biology (BIO) 101: Basic Biological Concepts

Biology 101 is a lecture and laboratory course designed specifically for nonscience majors and focuses on important topical issues in the context of basic concepts such as cell biology, bioenergetics, gene expression, and patterns of inheritance. Laboratory emphasizes the experimental nature of biological investigation and is suited for first-year students.

Graduation Requirements Met: Multiple Inquiries Natural Science with Lab

Meeting Times: various

Biology (BIO) 103: Contemporary Topics in Biology

Biology 103 is a lecture course designed for nonscience majors and covers selected topical issues and applications. Each lecture section has a different topic, such as applied insect biology (interaction with humans and how our changing world is impacting them) and cancer biology (biological basis, social impact, and treatment implications).

  • Lecture section A: Applied Insect Biology
  • Lecture section B: Cancer Biology

Graduation Requirements Met: Multiple Inquiries Natural Science, Science, Technology, and Society

Meeting Times: Section A: Tues/Thur 2:30-3:45; Section B: Mon/Wed/Fri 11:00-11:50

Biology (BIO) 111: Introductory Biology for Life Sciences

First-year students planning to major in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), Environmental Studies, Health Sciences, or minor in Neuroscience should register for Introductory Biology for Life Sciences (Bio 111) in the fall of their first year (this course is only offered in the fall). For Fall 2024, we offer five different topic-based themes and we are sure you will find at least one of these that piques your interest. 

Lecture sections A and D: Cracking Cancer’s Code

Delve into the fascinating world of cancer biology as we decode the contributing factors to this widespread and challenging constellation of diseases. Along the way you will learn the basics of cell biology and genetics. We will use this understanding to explore cutting-edge prevention and treatment strategies for taming and curing cancer.

Lecture section B: Infectious Diseases

Malaria, tuberculosis, and influenza. What do these diseases have in common? How do we “catch” these diseases? Who is more susceptible? How do we stop the transmission of infectious diseases? This course will explore the genetics, ecology and evolution of infectious agents to better understand how we control these diseases.

Lecture section C: Environmental Pollution

Toxic chemicals, human pharmaceuticals, invasive species as “pollutants.” What are the sources, fates, and effects of these and other pollutants on natural populations of organisms? How does climate change affect these pollutants and the responses of organisms to them? We will tackle these and other questions about environmental pollution in this course.

Lecture section E: Invasive Species

What determines the delicate balance of species interactions? We are living in an unprecedented age of change, and are only beginning to grasp the rules of engagement. This course will explore these rules across levels of biological organization: from molecules to the biosphere. Together we will see where the fundamentals of biology can help us understand why some species take over, to the detriment of others.

Lecture section F: Predator Biology

Earth hosts a fantastic diversity of creatures. Among these are predators, great and small, from killer whales to chaetognaths, each shaped by a ceaseless arms race with their prey. This course will explore the basics of ecology and evolution through the lens of predators and the adaptive processes that have resulted in their ferocious complexity.

Graduation Requirements Met: Biology Major/Minor, Health Science Requirement, Multiple Inquiries Natural Science

Meeting Times: various

East Asian Studies (AS) 227: Fairy Tales and Folktales: From the Brothers Grimm to China

Fairy tales? They might seem overly familiar, having accompanied you throughout your childhood. But have you ever delved into the versions collected by the Brothers Grimm, whose work has preserved these tales for generations? Have you pondered why they collected these stories in the first place? Did you know that the earliest written documentation of Cinderella comes from tenth-century China? Does this mean China is the origin of all Cinderella stories worldwide? You might love Disney’s Mulan, but how would the Chinese reclaim their own woman warrior’s story on the silver screen? Are you eager to explore other centuries-old Chinese mythic tales, such as the famed Monkey King, the Lady Meng whose tears brought down the Great Wall, or the legendary White Snake? How do these stories continue to transform through contemporary Chinese animations, conveying both traditional values and contemporary desires on a global stage?

These are the questions we will explore in this course, which will take you on a journey of comparative learning. We’ll investigate the histories and transformations of fairy tales and folktales in the Western world and China through various media—literary, oral, and filmic. We will examine the historical and cultural forces behind their enduring popularity and vitality, developing a reflective perspective on this everyday subject that has fueled human imagination since ancient times. Far from being mere children’s entertainment, fairy tales and folk tales are understood as profound art forms. They enable storytellers and listeners to find meanings in their worlds by mediating fundamental questions such as love, death, heroism, gender, morality, and nationhood. Bring your curiosity and join us to discover how these timeless stories continue to shape and reflect our lives.

Graduation Requirements Met: East Asian Studies--Chinese Major/Minor, Chinese Language Elective, Global Understanding, Multiple Inquiries Humanities

Meeting Times:  Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45

Chinese (CHN) language classes: 101, 201, 301/401

As you prepare for the upcoming semester, one course you should strongly consider is Chinese, a language designated as "critical" by the U.S. government. Mastery of Chinese can open doors to numerous career paths, particularly in fields like business, politics, and cultural exchange.

Gettysburg College offers a robust Chinese language program designed to support your language learning and cultural immersion. Our students have not only excelled academically but have also won the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship, which allows them to study in China or Taiwan. In addition, our study abroad program in Shanghai includes an internship option. On campus, once your Chinese proficiency reaches a certain level, you can take advantage of several paid opportunities. These include becoming a Chinese language table host, assisting the department in organizing cultural events, and tutoring other students in Chinese.

In the fall semester, we offer four levels of Chinese language instruction—CHIN 101, CHN 201, and CHN 301/401. Whether you are a beginner or have prior knowledge, there is a place for you in our program.

Graduation Requirements Met: Non-Native Language

Meeting Times: various

Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS) 101: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies

Have you ever wondered how films and TV shows get made? Have you ever wondered about all the different ways one could try to understand these ubiquitous phenomena? Watching films and tv shows is easy, but understanding why they work, or even exist, is not. That is why CIMS 101 is so interesting, since it provides an overview of all the ways we can study media that saturates our modern-day world. Find out what we mean by cinema(film) studies, why style is such a central issue for both film and TV, and why cultural studies takes seriously the idea of popular culture.

  1. Students will gain a visual literacy in cinema and other media as texts, analyzing in depth how they are put together.
  2. Students will understand larger contexts for cinema and other media, namely the institutional, economic and socio/political dynamics always underpinning these media texts, most of all from a historical perspective that sheds light on present day conditions.
  3. Students will understand and critique various theories employed to explain media phenomena, including both aesthetic and cultural theories of cinema, television and other media.
  4. Students will think critically about film and other media, and effectively communicate this in written, oral and visual forms.

Graduation Requirements Met: Multiple Inquiries Arts

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 1:00-3:50

Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS) 284: Arab Film

What does the Arab world look like outside of our media? This class will introduce students to the Arab region by visualizing the diversity of the Arab World through film. Students need not have prior experience in film, or the Arab region, before enrolling in this course. This class is designed as an introductory course.

Arab Film will introduce students to the culture of the Arab World and its diasporas through the study of major films from Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon, and others. We will focus on feminist and postcolonial Arab films. The topics of discussion will range from modernity, nationalism, secularism, Islam, politics, gender and human rights or censorship.

 This is a discussion-based class. Each film is paired with a reading that will guide the discussion. Students examine the socio-political and cultural contexts in which Arabic films operate, and which are necessary for their critical comprehension.

Graduation Requirements Met: CIMS Major/Minor, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Minor, Multiple Inquiries Arts, Global Understanding

Meeting Times: Wed 1:00-3:50

English (ENG) 203: Journalistic Writing

This course offers instruction in basic skills for writing news and feature stories. Students develop an understanding of what makes news; how to analyze news stories; how to conduct interviews and gather information; and how to construct stories, both in traditional and alternative forms. Trips to newspaper offices in the area are offered.

Prerequisite: English 101, any course fulfilling writing, or exemption from English 101

Graduation Requirements Met: English Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities

Meeting Times: Tues/Thur 1:00-2:15

English (ENG) 255: Coming of Age: The Global Bildungsroman

The bildungsroman is a literary genre that tracks the coming of age of a character. Although the genre emerged in nineteenth-century Europe, the bildungsroman has been adapted across a range of settings spanning Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. How does modernity, development, and progress look like from the perspective of dispossessed or marginalized protagonists? Reading contemporary works such as Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, and Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls among others, this class will ask how the bildungsroman is used to give form to a postcolonial, globalized world. The class serves as an introductory course for literary studies and emphasizes the skills of close reading and engaging in discussion.

Graduation Requirements Met: English Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities, Global Understanding

Meeting Times: Tues/Thur 11:30-12:45

English (ENG) 267: Identity and Difference: Ethnic Literature of the United States

The concept of "identity" appears to be the opposite of "difference." Yet we tend to form social identities as expressions of difference. This course examines how literary expressions of identity and difference emerged historically from the early-twentieth century to the present. Students will read and discuss some of the most important novels across African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latino/a/x canons. Along the way, we will encounter artistic explorations of race and double consciousness; ethnic difference and marginalization; dialect and code-switching; migration and diaspora; alienation and assimilation. As we move through each unit, we will analyze how some authors invoke transnational contexts beyond US borders. In other cases, we will examine how literary form and representation intersect matters of race and ethnicity with other dimensions of lived experience, such as class, gender, sexuality, and religion. In this way, we will assess how different authors challenge traditional notions of American cultural production, thereby challenging our understanding of American identity itself.

Graduation Requirements Met: English Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities, Global Understanding

Meeting Times: Tues/Thur 10:00-11:15

English (ENG) 271: Transnational Writing in the Americas, 1850-1917

Steam, ships, railroads, cotton—these were the stuff of dreams beyond the nation in the nineteenth-century Americas. Join us in this introduction to transnational writing to explore how the plot thickens when authors wrestle with global webs of political and economic interest woven from rivers, oceans, and the desires created by the soaring production of raw materials. We’ll zoom in on a moment when authors charted the contest between imperial forces and rebel alliances for the future of the world.

Graduation Requirements Met: English Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities, Global Understanding

Meeting Times: Tues/Thur 2:30-3:45

German (GER) 101: Elementary German

Why not take German? It is the most spoken native language in the EU, and Germany has the third largest economy in the world. Learn basic German for travel or study abroad, and discover German culture and film while you’re at it.

Graduation Requirements Met: Non-Native Language

Meeting Times:  Section A: Mon/Tues/Thur/Fri 9:00-9:50; Section B: Mon/Tues/Thur/Fri 12:00-12:50

German/Cinema and Media Studies (GER/CIMS) 260: Media Violence: Violence in European and American Media

Why does violence exist in films, texts, and games? Do media users get more aggressive when exposed to violent content? Learn about the aesthetics and politics of violence in literature, film, TV, and games.

Graduation Requirements Met:  German Studies Major/Minor, Cinema & Media Studies Major/Minor. Multiple Inquiries Humanities

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed/Fri 1:00-2:15

Health Sciences (HS) 120: Public Health

This course offers an overview of the determinants of health and disease and the tools available to protect and promote population health. Together, we will explore contemporary public health issues including: emerging diseases, climate change, opioid epidemics, gun violence, and mental health.

Graduation Requirements Met: Public Health course requirement for the HS BA degree, Integrative Thinking-Interdisciplinary Course requirement

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45

Physics (PHY) 111: Physics for Physics Majors I

Are you interested in physics or engineering, solving puzzles, taking measurements, and thinking about the mysteries of the natural world? If so, then PHY 111: Physics for Physics Majors I is the course for you. We’ll learn the fundamental laws that govern the universe, learn about Newton’s laws, and find out why they are wrong when you go close to the speed of light. This is the first of a three-course introductory sequence preparing students for careers in physics, in engineering, and preparing them to solve the puzzles of our world.

Graduation Requirements Met: Physics Major and dual-degree engineering requirements, Multiple Inquiries Natural Science with Laboratory

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed/Thur/Fri 9:00-9:50; Lab1: Tues 1:00-3:50; Lab2: Tues 7-10

Religious Studies (REL) 265: Introduction to Christianity

A book, a guy on a cross, and billions of followers. Christianity and Christian ideas now impact people of all faith traditions and walks of life. How did this religion get so big? Where did it come from? This course explores how a small group of peasants from the edges of the Roman Empire became one of the largest cultural forces in the western world.

Graduation Requirements Met: Religious Studies Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Humanities, Global Understanding Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45

Sociology (SOC) 103: Introduction to Sociology

Do you enjoy people watching? Are you curious about what motivates people to do the things they do? Do you like to try and understand the world from someone else’s perspective? Do you like to think about the forces that shape one’s individual experience? If these kinds of questions intrigue you, then Introduction to Sociology is a course to consider taking. Sociology focuses on the role that social connections and other social forces play in influencing individual and collective outcomes. Topics covered in Introduction to Sociology include how to think about how individual situations are related to broader social forces; the role that social institutions (e.g. the family, the economy, media, religion, etc.) play in society; how opportunities and resources are socially distributed; and how sociologists study the social world.

Graduation Requirements Met: Sociology Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Social Science

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 1:00-2:15, Mon/Wed/Fri 9:00-9:50, or Tues/Thur 10:00-11:15

Theatre Arts (THA) 105: Introduction to the Theatre

Any student with an interest in Theatre, from Hamlet to Hamilton, will find this course engaging and challenging regardless of how much experience one has. Students will read and analyze plays and essays on theatre, direct and perform scenes, and study design and technical elements of the Theatre. A great way to get to know other students and practice collaboration and communication skills while delving into an ancient, inspiring artform.

Graduation Requirements Met: Theatre Major/Minor, Cinema and Media Studies Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Arts

Meeting Times: Tues/Thur 10:00-11:15

Theatre Arts (THA) 120: Fundamentals of Acting

This is an introductory course on the art and craft of acting for beginners and experienced students alike. Students will engage in exercises that promote self-awareness and sharpen analytical skills and perform scenes and monologues from contemporary plays. This is a great course for students interested in performing, as well as those who want to develop technique and confidence in other performative disciplines, such as Communications, Education, Law, and more.

 Graduation Requirements Met: Theatre Major/Minor, Cinema and Media Studies Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Arts

Meeting Times: Section A: Mon/Wed 1:00-2:15; Section B: Tues/Thur 11:30-12:45

Theatre Arts (THA) 203: History of the Theatre

This course is a survey of the theatre from the Greeks to the Renaissance. Emphasis is placed on the relevance of theatre design, production techniques, and acting styles to the plays of their periods. The course covers Greek, Roman, Medieval, Spanish Golden Age, Elizabethan, Japanese, and Italian Renaissance.

Graduation Requirements Met: Theatre Major/Minor, Multiple Inquiries Arts

Meeting Times: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45