The Christian Science Monitor School Programs

College course-specific suggestions

College professors using The Christian Science Monitor agree that the Monitor is unique in its unbiased, international viewpoint and the desire to go beneath the sensationalism of a current event to its underlying context.

Below are examples of how some instructors use the Monitor.

Thomas E. Gouttierre,
Dean of International Studies and Programs.
University of Nebraska at Omaha

Course Title
INST 2130: International Studies

Course Description
An interdisciplinary, team-taught course which introduces the student to the range of independent factors and forces that influence international affairs. The topical approach combines the expertise of numerous social humanistic disciplines in each class session

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is required for all students as a resource for class discussions regarding current international events and topical developments during the semester.

There are always questions on tests taken from articles and current event summaries in The Christian Science Monitor.

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Randall D. Miller,
Professor.
Brigham Young University - Idaho

Course Title
E111 - College Writing

Course Description
Focuses on the development of proficient college writing. Emphasizes the composing process, expository and argumentative discourse, research and documentation. Requires essays totaling 5,000 words of drafted and edited prose.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
As the class discusses various elements of writing (introductions, conclusions, paragraph development, sentence crafting, word choice, variety, emphasis and so on) Monitor articles are used as models and as a focus of discussion.

For specific writing assignments students use articles from the Monitor as models and as examples of various approaches to the task.

Students are encouraged to become aware of how other writers write, what techniques they use, how they relate to audience, how they approach a particular task. They examine Monitor articles to discover these things about what makes writing succeed.

In one assignment, they pick an article and evaluate, analyze and judge the writing. They look to see how well the author of the article has applied the skills and techniques discussed in class. Doing this often helps them see the wide variety of ways writers approach writing.

Students also do a “letter to the editor” assignment in which they respond to something in the Monitor. If the student's letter is published, the student gets the full possible score for the assignment.

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Clemencia Rodriquez,
Associate Professor.
University of Oklahoma

Course Titles and Descriptions:

Intercultural Communication:
Explores communication among people of different cultures.

Communication and Social Change:
Explores how media can be used for a better world for social justice.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
I require students to subscribe to The Christian Science Monitor and to keep a journal about what they read in it. They must write at least three entries each week with at least one entry from the “World” section of the Monitor. Each journal entry must include a summary of the Monitor article and a discussion in which they apply three concepts taken from the class.

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Jeana Abromeit,
Associate Professor.
Alverno College -Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Course Title
GLS/SSC 410 Comparative Social Policy

Course Description
The central aim of this course is to help students learn about the strategies used in various societies and by their political systems to identify social problems and to develop programs for solving them. This requires that students learn about and how to apply key social scientific concepts from several disciplines – particularly economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, and history.

In Comparative Social Policy we consider different visions of what the “common good” is and various approaches to identifying it, as well as the reasons nations have or have not yet achieved it. We also examine the elements of social policy.

The general goals described above may be expressed in terms of several more specific learning objectives, which in turn are associated with various competences offered during the semester. To be successful in this course, students must:

  1. use different social scientific perspectives in accurate and meaningful ways to examine policy approaches to social problems;
  2. synthesize national and global foci into a coherent framework for interpreting global problems;
  3. develop a comprehensive response to global issues by synthesizing diverse perspectives;
  4. conduct thorough research on a global problem and its policy implications;
  5. comprehensively address contemporary social problems in comparative perspective;
  6. link ideas with concrete tactics and strategies for action in the formulation of social policy;
  7. publicly articulate well-conceptualized positions on global issues and fully explain rationale; and
  8. express ideas, analyses, and solutions in sophisticated ways by effectively using appropriate disciplinary terminology and conventions.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor

Students use a variety of sources to conduct their analyses of countries' policies and to formulate their own policy alternatives. The Christian Science Monitor is one of the most helpful sources because of the consistent high quality work that characterizes the Monitor's reports. The articles are typically in-depth, topical, and less biased than most other news media. Alverno College has a subscription to The Christian Science Monitor, so many students in GLS/SSC 410 read it in the library. But there are always several students who subscribe to it through this course and rave about how much they learn from this paper.

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Dr. William Lamkin
Professor
Glendale Community College

Course Title
Introduction to World Politics

Course Description
The Monitor is used in this entry level course as an extra credit assignment. The only way to earn any extra credit in this class is to subscribe to the Monitor for the three months the class lasts, to cut two foreign relations stories out of the paper every day, and to turn them in for extra credit. In theory, the student would not even have to read the articles to earn the extra credit. Nonetheless every semester more than half of the students who subscribe tell me that they really enjoyed reading the Monitor and learned something interesting from their extra credit reading.

This is not a very profound or creative application, but for most of my students this will be the first “adults only” newspaper they will have ever looked at on a daily basis. Unlike the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, any student who reads the Monitor every day during the semester learns something from this experience.

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Dr. David Van Heemst
Professor,
Olivet Nazarene University

Course Titles
1. Introduction to Political Science:
2. The World Today
3. Introduction to International Relations
4. Non-Western Politics

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor

In these classes The Christian Science Monitor is used as a tool to get students to think about current events. Typically class discussions start with the latest events and then turn to the Monitor for context and background. Then students are encouraged to think analytically about the underlying issues (a task for which this newspaper is indispensable) and possible solutions. The Monitor has been the best paper or magazine I've used in 10 years of teaching. It helps the students see beyond the event to the underlying context. I highly recommend it!

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Charles F. Gruber
Associate Professor,
Marshall University,
Huntington, WV

Course Title
HST 208 - History of the Developing World

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is recommended but not required in this course. Students submit proposed topics, issues, countries and I select one of them to be monitored by the student during the semester. On the final examination students write about what they have learned within the context of the course, mostly on recent and current events, patterns & developments.

In addition, I frequently use Monitor information or coverage in class, and occasionally make handouts for each student on articles that are very pertinent to a topic or subject I'm focusing on at that time. No other news source is so valuable to me for these (uses).

I also ask if any students will volunteer a few special findings at the last class session for all to benefit from.

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Donna M. Joss
Professor
Worcester State College

Course Title
Global Health Issues

Course Description
The class uses a summary format to discuss and analyze health issues that are global in nature. Recognition of the relationship between health and human rights is an important component of discussions.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
Students keep a portfolio, bringing an article or information on each topic to class for discussion that day, then entering it into their portfolio along with their reflections. The Monitor serves as an important source of articles/information on this subject. It also has been essential in helping develop a global perspective.

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Dr. Mary Ellen Klatte
Associate Professor
Eastern Kentucky University

Course Title
World Civilization: A seminar in World Civilization

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
This course, in which I use the Monitor, is a contemporary problems course. I use the Monitor because it provides unbiased reporting of world news, something which is impossible to obtain with commercial T.V. and radio stations. Students find the Monitor an asset for daily discussions and for major projects involving presentations and papers (research).

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Paul W. Blank
Professor
Humboldt State University

Course Title
Geography 300: Global awareness

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor

  1. Assign students (or let them choose) an area of the world to track throughout the seminar, becoming class “resource person” on that region or issue.
  2. Provide selected questions from Monitor articles for which students are responsible on exams.
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Name Withheld
Department Head
Holderness School

Course Title
Economics

Course Description
Survey of micro and macro economics with an emphasis on contemporary global economic issues.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
The students read it daily. Once a week they write a journal entry regarding a story they have run across. They also generate a theme paper topic from a news story they read. We spend a little time in class on the Monitor as well.

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Frank Ibe
Professor
Wayne County Community College

Course Title
Political Science 101 - Introduction to American Government

Course Description
This is an introductory course in American national government. In this course, we undertake a broad survey of various elements of American government. Topics covered include, among other things, the U.S. Constitution, basic political institutions, the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, political participation and behavior, and current political issues in Congress as affected by which political party controls the House and the Senate. At completion of the course, the student has a better understanding of the ideas, institutions, interests, and issues which make up the political process.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
The readings and assignments come from the textbook and The Christian Science Monitor. Since a contemporary government course must be concerned with current events, regularly reading a daily international newspaper such as The Christian Science Monitor is important and helpful.

One class project assigned to students focuses on the editorial cartoons in The Christian Science Monitor and goes as follows:

  1. Over a period of ten weeks, students are asked to pay special attention to political cartoons appearing in The Christian Science Monitor.
  2. Students select at least four cartoons during that period. The cartoon must be political in nature and about a candidate, issue or a government institution.
  3. Students then write a two-page political analysis and political commentary on each of two of the cartoons selected. They are told that the purpose of their analysis/research/commentary is to answer a question or to analyze a situation, not simply to describe the situation.
  4. For each cartoon the student is asked to:

    1. Explain the cartoon: Discuss the political issue involved and elaborate on what the political controversy is about.
    2. Explain the cartoonist's viewpoint: Discuss the point the cartoonist is making about this issue/subject. What is he trying to explain?
    3. Explain the student's own response to the cartoon: Discuss the student's position on the issue, and compare his/her viewpoint with that of the cartoonist.
    4. Include a brief discussion of the significance of the cartoon – and why the student chose it.
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Carol Lilly
Associate Professor
University of Nebraska-Kearne

Course Title
1. History of Soviet Russia
2. History of Modern Eastern Europe

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
Usually I require the Monitor as additional reading but have no specific assignments. I simply think students at this level should be familiarized with an excellent national/international newspaper and I can justify it in these classes because I know that there will be relevant articles.

Occasionally students cut out, collect, write journal entries based on those articles. I've also urged them to use the articles as sources for research papers.

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Elizabeth Paddock
Associate Professor
Drury University-Springfield, MO

Course Title
Political Science – Various

Course Titles
Government and Politics in the U.S. - Survey of U.S. Politics
Introduction to Comparative Politics - Survey of comparative politics
Parties, Elections and Interest Groups - U.S. political Behavior
Mass Media, Polls and Politics - U.S. political behavior
Women and Politics - Comparative survey of women's political roles
European Politics - Examination of several European countries

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
Once a week, I assign a list of Monitor articles to each class. Each list is tailored to each class subject. For example, for the class “Parties, Elections and Interest Groups”, I assign articles on electoral politics, campaign finance reform, the political parties, and so on. Most Fridays each class will spend 15-20 minutes discussing the articles. Sometimes the students select the articles to be discussed and sometimes I make the selection. When possible, we try to draw connections between the Monitor articles and the other materials read and discussed in class.

To assure that the students are reading the Monitor, I schedule three Monitor quizzes each semester per class. These quizzes are announced one week in advance so students have a chance to catch up on reading the assignments. The quizzes normally consist of five multiple choice questions and are geared primarily to getting the students to read the assignment.

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Yvonne Freitas
College Instructor
Cambridge College

Course Title
Master of Management Program: Research Methods for Managers

Course Description
This is a Management cohort group of adult learners.

While I always find the Monitor to be informative – personally and professionally – Monday's edition, with its Work & Money section, covers the issues that are challenging today's managers and corporations. (The article on paid family leave, for example, stirred quite the controversial classroom discussion). By bringing the Monitor into the classroom, some students are becoming familiar with its superior news reporting while others are getting reacquainted with it. It's great to know that I can turn to the Monitor for fresh curriculum ideas.

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Janet Huber Lowry
Associate Professor
Austin College
Sherman, TX

Course Title
Aging in Society

Course Description
Upper level policy course. Looks at aging and its implications in various policy areas. After reviewing several controversies related to aging, students study family relations over the life course, and Alzheimer Disease and its impact on aging, support systems, health care, etc. Student teams pursue research for policy proposals on Medicare support for in home care-giving, elder neglect in nursing homes, geriatric medical education in Texas, and respite care and financial support for families with Alzheimer's patients.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
For a policy class, I find traditional age college students are woefully out of touch with the current events and policy makers they need to understand to assess the feasibility of their proposed policies. I count on the Monitor to have topically relevant articles and sometimes, as in this term, students read and find a great story related to the course before I do. I also count on the important national leadership to be identified in various social welfare issues that government is debating and expect the paper to be a stepping stone to tracking down other key players, people as well as organizations advocating for change in relevant areas of government policy.

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Lora Walker
Los Angeles City College

Course Title and Description
English as a Second Language

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor
These courses teach foreign adults who are in their 20's through 70's. They are already educated and are eager for news of their own country. I bring them articles from the Monitor, show the pictures that go with the articles, and give individual students a copy of each such article about his/her country. Often some friend or family member will help them translate the article.

Students are proud when articles about their country appear in the Monitor. They like the students from other countries to see them, and they appreciate that the instructor knows and remembers where they are from.

I use the “top 10” lists from the “Etc.” column on the back page as conversation-starters. I also attempt to match Monitor articles with a student's occupation, such as the science articles.

This combines to make the Monitor an excellent motivator and resource for foreign-speaking students who want to learn to speak, read and write English.

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Peter Haslund
Professor,
Political Science & Global Studies
Santa Barbara City College

Course Titles and Descriptions
• International Relations
• Global Studies
The latter is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of global affairs focusing largely on the process of globalization.

Instructional Strategies for Using The Christian Science Monitor

  1. Students are asked to assume the role of Ambassadors from different countries for the semester. They are then asked to write a country profile by the end of the term, with a substantial appendix of clipped articles from either The Christian Science Monitor or the New York Times.
  2. I spend time at the start of each class section asking what they have read that may apply to the substance of our course in general or to a particular lecture. The value of this approach is that it provides timely context for any particular IR or Global Studies theory.