Making Connections

The general objective of these courses is to provide the room and opportunity for students to apply or practise the skills they have learnt from the NUS College Foundational & Common Curriculum, especially in ways that complement students’ own disciplinary backgrounds.

Making Connections courses will be divided into two domain categories: Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Students will be taking courses that span both domains in order to fulfil the elective requirements in NUS College.

The timetable and details of the Making Connections Courses offered can be found here.

HSS courses	STEM courses
Student’s learning goals	Student’s learning goals
Enhance awareness of the questions, discourses, motivations, and methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Learn how scholars frame questions from a variety of materials and approaches (archives, works of art and literature, interviews, sets of statistical data, experiments), how to use appropriate methods for different kinds of questions, and when multiple approaches may be needed. Engage with research investigations and creative expression, learning to present and communicate effectively in a variety of contexts, from academic papers and case studies to artistic works.	Understand and apply various modes of scientific inquiry – e.g., experimentation, modeling and simulation, statistical analysis, algorithmic thinking, logical proof, etc. – through concrete examples. Draw parallels across the different STEM courses and make comparisons in how the same modes of inquiry are employed in different scientific, mathematical, or technological disciplines. Whenever appropriate, relate some of the insights learnt to humanities and social sciences contexts.

HSS courses

STEM courses

Student’s learning goals

Enhance awareness of the questions, discourses, motivations, and methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Learn how scholars frame questions from a variety of materials and approaches (archives, works of art and literature, interviews, sets of statistical data, experiments), how to use appropriate methods for different kinds of questions, and when multiple approaches may be needed.

Engage with research investigations and creative expression, learning to present and communicate effectively in a variety of contexts, from academic papers and case studies to artistic works.

Understand and apply various modes of scientific inquiry – e.g., experimentation, modeling and simulation, statistical analysis, algorithmic thinking, logical proof, etc. – through concrete examples.

Draw parallels across the different STEM courses and make comparisons in how the same modes of inquiry are employed in different scientific, mathematical, or technological disciplines.

Whenever appropriate, relate some of the insights learnt to humanities and social sciences contexts.

Reading Making Connections Courses

From the basket of Making Connections courses to be made available, NUS College students will do six courses in total, between Semester 2 and Semester 8, with at least two courses in HSS, and at least two courses in STEM.

These six courses may also include: NUS Overseas Colleges, Global Experience Course, or other study abroad opportunities.

Making Connections Courses

Details on the basket of Making Connections courses will be made available very soon. Below are some examples of how these courses may look:

Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)

What is Gender?: A course about the concept of “gender” drawing resources from anthropology, film studies, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, popular culture and the mass media, psychology, science studies, and sociology.
Reimagining Work/Life: This course explores the relationship between work and life. Does work make life fulfilling, or does a fulfilling life take place beyond or apart from work? Is the tension between work and life, albeit deeply entrenched, even necessary? What roles do young people have in shaping new work-life arrangements?
Social Design and Worldmaking in Singapore: This course explores the intersections of design and anthropology in community worldmaking in Singapore by critically examining and proposing creative alternatives to designed sites, such as community gardens, playgrounds, wet markets. At the core of the course is an attention to how we design our world and how our world designs us.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

Creating Wolverine in Real Life: A course introducing students to regenerative and precision medicine entrepreneurship and its associated intricacies, including business, regulatory, ethical issues, process of innovation and technology commercialisation.
Invertebrate Innovations: This course gives much-needed attention to this megadiverse group, focusing on the varied biological innovations in aspects of their anatomy, physiology, and behaviour, which enable them to survive in particular habitats. We examine how such innovations in invertebrates have inspired man-made designs, materials and technologies across disciplines, which lead to human innovations that benefit society; and how the study of invertebrates more broadly contributes understanding of the natural world that also indirectly benefits society.
Solving Energy and Environmental Problems: This course explores and scrutinises the current energy and environmental problems the world is facing, by critically evaluating the main causes and finding ways to alleviate and solve them. Key topics include energy conservation, alternative or renewable energy, climate change, carbon footprint, decarbonization, pollution, forestation/reforestation and science-based policy making.