Australia

This course examines how mental processes such as attention, memory, language, and problem solving form the basis of our creative human cognitive abilities. An understanding of these cognitive abilities and the methods used by cognitive psychologists to study them provides an essential foundation for ongoing study in psychology. Classic and current research findings are discussed in this course to reveal what is known about the workings of the human mind. Specific topics covered in this course include: perceptual processes and their role in cognition; the nature and function of selective attention; categorization and the mental representation of knowledge; the structure, function and organization of the human memory system; human linguistic ability, including language acquisition, language disorders, and models of spoken and written language processes; and higher order cognitive processes such as problem solving, decision making, and musical ability.

This course examines peace bulding and conflict resolution in the 21st century, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This course considers violence, truce, justice, trauma, peacekeeping, reconciliation, anomie, truth, healing and resolution, with special attention to those situations where peace processes have consistently failed to achieve their goals.

The course introduces students to transdisciplinary ways of viewing and examining modern Australia's relationship with the broad Asian region. It examines the conflicting perceptions, images, and emotions that Australians have towards their region and the various themes and events that have impacted upon them. Materials examined include historical accounts, literature, art, blogs, documentaries, and movies. Topics covered include: Asia and the formation of Australian identities, the rise of Asia and Australia’s shifting strategic relationships, the impact of Asian migration and multiculturalism, the transformations of urban spaces, Asian Australians speaking out, educating about and for the Asian Century, military adventures into Asia, tourism to Asia, economic ties with Asia, and cultural integration with our region.

This course examines how the basic abiotic factors of the Australian environment, such as climate and geology, have resulted in the distinct Australian biota. Students examine how the same factors have influenced indigenous and non-indigenous human cultures, and contrast the effects the two have had in turn on the biota. A field trip to Stradbroke Island introduces the typical Australian vegetation adapted to poor soils in a drought and fire-ridden environment. A trip to Lamington National Park introduces Australian rainforest - the vegetation which typically develops at the opposite extreme of all those variables. Australia is very instructive in an international sense regarding how rainforest is defined. Unlike most parts of the world, we recognize dry rainforest or vine thickets which are highly distinct from nearby non-rainforest vegetation. They grow in very low rainfalls, but in the absence of fire. A trip to Kroombit Tops shows the students rare examples of the driest extremes of rainforest in an ecologically fascinating mosaic, and gives them a remote outback experience in a functioning cattle station.

This course examines key ideas and concepts in criminology, including definitions of crime, criminological theories of crime causation, the consequences of crime, research methods used in criminology, and the ethics of conducting criminological research.

This course examines needs and inter-dependencies of all beings; the diverse ways humans meet their needs through material and non-material means and the ecological and social consequences of this for humans and other beings; the economic, social and political norms that shape the ways we meet our needs; and the ethical and disciplinary frameworks through which the sustainability of human-environmental relationships can be assessed.

This course examines the theatrical and performative modes of writing, including writing delivered live by a performer or performers in a theater, encountered by a seated or mobile audience, or experienced through media such as headphones or hypertext.

This course details how talk is managed in a range of professional settings, including education (e.g. teacher-student interactions), medicine (e.g. doctor-patient consultations), psychology (e.g. counseling), law (e.g. question design in courtrooms), and journalism (e.g. radio interviews). Students are exposed to interactional practices that are common to all workplaces: negotiation and resolving conflict, sources of misunderstanding, aligning with other speakers, managing topics, and different cultural practices in making sense of talk at work. Students learn how interaction is organized based on the fundamental tenets of conversation analysis: turn-taking, repair, and the sequential organization of talk.