May 2022

In this HSA Bulletin
In the Spotlight!
Call for Content
Primary Course Submission Phase Ends June 30
Reminder: Convert your Algebra II/Trigonometry courses 
FAQ of the Month

In the Spotlight!
This month, another course has piqued our interest: Food and Community: Neuroscience and Humanities Perspective taught by Bala Selvakumar at Polytechnic School in Pasadena. Just approved as an elective for A-G purposes, the course focuses primarily on how food influences human interaction. In this interdisciplinary course, students explore neurobiology, literature, art, archaeology and oral history. Dr. Selvakumar’s insights are drawn from his biomedical experience and from time spent at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture Education and Human Development, among other personal and professional sources. We are certain his students at Polytechnic School will be inspired by the curriculum. We asked Dr. Selvakumar to provide some details and context about the course. 

What inspired you to create this course?
I moved away from 17 years as a university researcher in the biomedical sciences because I became deeply intrigued by food and how it influences human interaction. Nine years ago, I took time off to write a short thesis about this question for an international program, using a multidisciplinary perspective. I was fortunate to find independent schools that allowed me to design a course based on this inquiry. It worked well because I could engage with a question that interested me immensely through student discussions and their work, and I could use the summer for further research. It also allowed me to make connections between the school and the local community by bringing in faculty members and parents to lead guest conversations.

Describe the course and how you went about developing it.
The central question of the course is: How does food influence human interaction? Students explore this question in three dimensions. In the first dimension, they use primary literature in behavioral neurobiology; in the second they use material evidence, including archaeological artifacts, works of literature, art and oral history to recreate how food influenced people across history in different parts of the world. In the third dimension, informed by the first two, students explore their own responses to the course question. Through this process, students use storytelling techniques to develop a personal narrative, curate artifacts that resonate with them, apply a neurobiological and multicultural perspective to the subject, and write about their research within the context of the local and global societies in which they live.

The eight-year process of developing the course entailed searching for primary research literature in behavioral neurobiology. Developing guidance for the three dimensions that leads toward a cumulative research project has also been an integral part of creating the course.

What are one or two assignments that are popular with the students?
The final project — a culmination of the course’s three dimensions — is popular among students. A highlight has been students sharing a personal moment about food and human interaction that has a special meaning to them, their reflections on the moment and how its meaning might change through the dimensions of the course. Their final presentation of this exploration is a research paper, podcast, video or art installation.

Describe some successes and challenges you’ve experienced implementing this course.
One very successful aspect has been the variety of student projects and how they are used as points of reference in school conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion; in student speeches and initiatives; in college applications, interviews and reference letters; and in guiding the choice of undergraduate programs and graduate study. Another success has been having members of a school and local community, including parents, be part of and lead guest discussions in the course. And in terms of the course’s growth, a huge success was when it was approved as an undergraduate course of study (and had the first batch of students) last year by New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. 

Challenges in implementing the course at the high school level include having the students and the school consider the course in all its many unique facets. Specifically, being able to speak to classes of students to summarize the course and answer questions about it, whether in a group or individually, is helpful.

What are some resources you use to teach the course that you would recommend to others?

Suggested resources:

• The Pubmed database from the National Library of Medicine to search for primary literature on behavioral neurobiology
• Smithsonian Open Access (and other museum websites) for a vast digital collection of historical artifacts
• Project Gutenberg to access certain classic works of literature
• Food in Time and Place: The American Historical Association’s Companion to Food History. Edited by Paul Freedman, Joyce Chaplin and Ken Albala, University of California Press

We want to hear from you!

High School Articulation wants to learn about innovative teaching and learning at California high schools, particularly in these three areas:

1. Successes and challenges you’ve experienced as you work to give your students access to A-G courses. How have you made A-G more equitable in your school or district?
    
2. Examples of how your institution is revising mathematics curricula in response to changing state policies and practices. What new courses or course sequences are you offering? What new practices are you implementing in response to statewide changes?
    
3. Stories about the experience and impact of offering an ethnic studies curriculum in your school or district. How was the curriculum developed? How have students responded to the curriculum?

We are also interested in hearing about the other innovative work happening on your campuses. Please share it!

Kindly take a few minutes to fill out our new High School Articulation Audience Survey and let us know about your work.

If the link above doesn't work, please copy and paste the following URL into your browser: http://bit.ly/HSACallforContent.

News & Updates 

1. Submit courses eligible for auto approval.
2. Edit course titles.
3. Edit transcript abbreviations and course codes.
4. Edit the course learning environment.
5. Draft new courses.
6. Make eligible courses retroactive for up to three years.

This is a friendly reminder to convert your mathematics courses listed in the Algebra II/Trigonometry discipline to another appropriate mathematics discipline by June 30. Any courses not converted by that date will be automatically updated to the Algebra II discipline after July 1. 

More information on this topic may be found in the HSA Webinar Series 2021–22: A-G CMP and Math Updates webinar hosted on February 3, 2022.

Please also review the FAQ: Clarification on Algebra II/Trigonometry revisions from the January 2022 HSA Bulletin that addresses this topic.

If you have questions, please email HSArticulation@ucop.edu.

• One Course Overview per course that is 3-5 sentences in length and that summarizes the content and goals of the course.
• One Unit Summary for each unit in the course. Each should be 3-5 sentences that describe the content and skills students learn in that unit.
• One Sample Assignment per unit that describes the product students complete (e.g., essay, presentation, report) that demonstrates learning.

• Include all or most units in the submission to ensure it demonstrates alignment with the course criteria.
• Describe a variety of assignment types across the submission to illustrate how the work of the course fully aligns with the subject area criteria.
• Include narrative descriptions in the overview and assignment summary sections rather than links to websites with assignment sheets. The course submission is a permanent record with UC of your A-G course, and links can become broken or require sign-in.