National University of Singapore

This course calls attention to the fundamental importance of thinking not only in learning per se but also in shaping who we are. It examines the nature of thinking, as well as its mechanisms. It aims to help students experience the excitement of thinking as they try to understand what thinking is; students are thus compelled to critique and re-examine their own assumptions about what they think they know and about themselves as psychosomatic learners and persons.

This is a first course on the theory and applications of numerical approximation techniques. It looks at how in practice mathematically formulated problems are solved using computers, and how computational errors are analyzed and tackled. Major topics covered include computational errors, direct method for systems of linear equations, interpolation and approximation, numerical integration, and use of MATLAB software.

This course introduces the scientific and comparative study of religion, with emphasis on South Asian religions. For each tradition a survey of the relevant original literature is provided. Other topics include the co-existence of different religious traditions, and the social and psychological implications of religious values, beliefs, and rituals.

This course provides an introduction to both weather and climate. Processes underlying the behavior of the atmospheric environment from local to global scales are discussed. The course commences with a discussion of atmospheric concepts in a visual and practical manner. Understanding and application of basic meteorological principles will help to explain environmental phenomena such as clouds and precipitation, tropical storms and global climate change. 

This course examines dominant perceptions of law in Malay society by focusing on ideas on adat law and Islamization of laws. It analyzes socio‐historical factors conditioning perspectives and the function of ideas in relation to social groups that espouse them. The extent to which the mode of thinking on adat law is reflected in discourse on Islamizing laws and its impact on legal development will be addressed. Concepts of ideology and Orientalism, Islam and adat law, Ideas on Islamization of laws and Shariah and the state are some major themes tackled.

The course provides a study of the major principles and types of rheology and how these can be applied to give the required structure, texture, and viscosity in processed biomaterials. Major topics include viscosity of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic properties of weak and strong gels, transient responses of a wide range of food and pharmaceutical products, and theoretical/empirical modelling of mechanical properties.