Courses List

English Grammar focuses on learning English through exercises that incorporate learning tools including videos and audio material as well as guided practice activities.

English Grammar focuses on learning English through exercises that incorporate learning tools including videos and audio material as well as guided practice activities.

English Grammar focuses on learning English through exercises that incorporate learning tools including videos and audio material as well as guided practice activities.

English Grammar focuses on learning English through exercises that incorporate learning tools including videos and audio material as well as guided practice activities.

This class focuses on developing students’ communication skills, with particular emphasis on speaking and writing with the goal of becoming confident and competent communicators in English. Throughout the course, students will work on building their vocabulary, improving grammar usage and comprehension skills by engaging in different class material. Apart from improving your English, this class also aims to:  provide a supportive learning environment where everyone feels comfortable about using the language without fear of making mistakes  encourage each student to take responsibility for their own learning progress  encourage students to actively engage in learning within a supportive group dynamic

This course supplements the courses in mathematics and science with English usage, vocabulary, and terms of art that are widely used in these fields. We will work on conversation, writing, and listening skills.

This beginning German course introduces students to basic vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation for everyday communication. Emphasis is placed on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in practical contexts.

This beginning German course introduces students to basic vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation for everyday communication. Emphasis is placed on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in practical contexts.

We will be practicing the skill of deep description, one of the fundamental building blocks of good writing, in order to create scenes that feel lifelike, augmented with reflection in order to dramatize both our outer and inner worlds. We will use our skills in observation and reflection by using the five senses and our insight to capture portraits in words of people we know--others and ourselves. This class will include teaching assistants from Fairfield University.

Students will read Khaled Hosseini’s novel both as literary exemplar and as the subject of postcolonial critique. We will pay particular attention to the dual point of view in the novel; to Hosseini’s perspective as a member of the Afghan diaspora; and to the fluid interpretations of history embedded in novels tied to controversial events. By the end, students will have written two stories of their own, one from a perspective close to their own, and one from a much different perspective.

This course explores the dynamic traditions of American and British poetry from the 19th and 20th centuries, tracing the evolution of form, style, and cultural expression across two centuries of profound social and artistic change. We will examine the shifting voices of poets responding to industrialization, empire, war, modernity, and the search for identity, paying special attention to transatlantic dialogues and divergences in poetic innovation. Readings include Romantic and Victorian poets such as Wordsworth, Shelley, Tennyson, and Browning; American voices like Whitman and Dickinson; and modernist innovators such as Yeats, Eliot, Pound, and Hughes. We will also consider mid- to late-20th-century poets—including Auden, Larkin, Plath, and Heaney—who redefined poetry for new generations. Through close reading, critical analysis, and attention to historical and cultural contexts, students will develop a deeper appreciation for the aesthetic experiments and enduring themes that shaped Anglo-American poetry during this period.

This course is designed to cultivate intellectual curiosity while fostering critical thinking skills through the exploration of short-form literature. Students will read short stories, essays, and poetry, focusing on themes, tone, character, and language. By analyzing various literary forms, students will improve their ability to articulate responses to new material and express their opinions using evidence from the readings. Through guided discussions and reflective writing exercises, students will investigate the perspectives of authors from around the world. The course will provide an opportunity to not only appreciate literature, but also to develop essential skills that are valuable in both academic and real-world contexts.

This course strengthens students' English reading and comprehension skills through a course-long close reading of Edith Wharton's novella (short novel) Ethan Frome. Students will improve their English vocabulary, immerse themselves in patterns of English syntax, and improve their reading speed and comprehension of English language texts. Students will be expected to read 7-11 pages each week, keep a reading log, participate in in-class writing exercises and discussions, and complete writing assignments, quizzes, and projects throughout the session. The use of AI is not permitted in this course. Students may use an online dictionary. A text copy of the book will be provided to all students. Course aims: Gain confidence and proficiency reading English-language texts Build and improve English vocabulary Improve internal grasp of English sentence structure and syntax Strengthen knowledge and understanding of classic American literature

Everyone has a good stories to tell. How to tell your stories and how to write them will be the focus of this 10 week workshop. Stories are the way we connect to one another, and to the larger world. Together we will explore good stories by reading, writing, and telling them. We will discuss good writing techniques, and examine all the ways that make stories good. At the end of class, all participants will have written at least one good story of her own.

This course introduces important and diverse contributions by women to political theory. New lines of research have demonstrated the many and complex ways women have contributed to political reflection. While most of the key texts we explore come from the Western tradition, the course also includes examples of Asian contributions to this global tradition and gives an opportunity for students themselves to give a presentation on authors from their own cultural traditions.

What reasons do we have for thinking that God exists? Why might a good, all-powerful God allow suffering? If God exists, what is God like? If you are interested in exploring these questions further, and are competent in English, then this course is for you. You will learn how to evaluate arguments and how to construct your own rational arguments. You will reflect on your beliefs and will analyse possible objections and responses to a variety of ideas.

This course is an introduction to some major themes and theories in Western philosophy. By examining works from Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Mill, Mary Wollestonecraft and Thomas Hobbes, we will engage with three big questions. (1) What is knowledge? (2) What is an ethically good person? And (3) What is a legitimate and just government? By examining these questions, students will gain a greater understanding of some of the most influential and important ideas in the Western philosophical tradition.

This course explores one of the classic problems of philosophy—the mind-body problem. No previous philosophical knowledge is needed to understand the material we shall cover. The major topics to be explored are materialism, idealism, and dualism. These are the views, respectively, that body is basic and mind is somehow built out of matter, the view that mind is basic and that matter is somehow built out of the mind, and the view that both are basic and neither is built out of the other. Along the way we shall always worry about the possibility of mind-body interaction, on the view under discussion. More specific topics discussed are the nature of symbolic representation, the character of consciousness, the peculiar view of matter endorsed by modern science, the nature of computation and thought.

In this course we will develop a theoretical and practical grasp of fundamental concepts and techniques of critical thinking and logic as used in contemporary analytic philosophy. The first half of the course is informal. We will learn how to identify and analyse arguments expressed in natural language and we will learn to evaluate those arguments for validity and soundness. We will also learn how to identify invalid arguments and diagnose some familiar fallacies. The second half of the course is about the fundamentals of a basic formal logic: classical propositional logic. We will examine some problems with analysing, evaluating and constructing arguments in natural language. To avoid those problems, we construct a formal language called classical propositional logic. We will learn how to translate natural language arguments into propositional logic and apply formal methods to test them for validity.

What does it mean to be free? Is freedom always a good thing, or can there by both positive and negative forms of freedom? This course explores philosophical theories of freedom and autonomy. We will think about what different forms freedom takes, and how our relationships with and responsibilities towards other people impact on our freedom. We will engage each week with a short, classic reading, mostly from philosophy but some from other disciplines too. We will approach these texts as philosophers. We will critically examine the concepts and argumentation in them, and develop our own responses to them.

The course will introduce students to major trends and movements in the cinema of the region since the 1980s. We watch films and discuss them in light of the historical and cultural frameworks of the countries that produced them. We will also discuss production and aesthetic concepts that constitute the films.

This course offers an introduction to the musical traditions of Afghanistan and their cultural, social, and historical contexts. Students will explore a range of musical genres, instruments, and performance practices, while also learning about the intersections of music with identity, migration, gender, politics, and religion. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of music in preserving Afghan cultural heritage during times of war, displacement, and diaspora.

Using written materials and videos, we explore the benefits of exercise for physical and mental health and the history of women’s sports. The course has a particular emphasis on successful Muslim women athletes and the barriers they have faced and continue to face. We also highlight the experiences of women athletes in Afghanistan. In addition, we cover global issues such as sportswashing and other issues related to sports competitions held in countries with problematic human rights records. The course includes in-class discussions and videos, breakout groups, readings, and short writing assignments to supplement lectures and presentations. No background in the topic is required; intermediate level English recommended.

This course will focus on ethnographic methods to document cultural expression and practices in everyday life. Some of those practices and expressions may be considered more traditional and important than others. Some stories might be considered true, and others to be fairy tales. Gestures, greetings, stories, jokes, songs, and foodways are culturally shaped expressions and events that can reveal sociocultural values, morals, social class and gender roles. We will learn how folklorists and anthropologists observe, document, and interpret the behavior, speech and action of others.

This course examines women and ancient sources. It begins with some background on how to read and interpret ancient sources: what can ancient texts and archaeological remains tell us about women of the past? What are the limitations of these sources? From there, we look at women characters in narratives - how are they depicted, represented, or ignored? Next, we examine how women have been a focus in scholarship. Here we will look at the contributions of feminist criticism and women-centred archaeology focussing on women's lives and also at subsequent scholarly developments: namely, gender criticism, queer criticism, and masculinity studies. How has this affected and been affected by social movements in front of the ancient texts? Finally, we will look at some recent examples in select faith settings, focusing on developments in women's rights, visibility, and participation. Here we will look at such topics as women's leadership, divorce, resistance to gender-based violence, and abortion.

In an increasingly interconnected world, understanding contemporary political issues is crucial for informed global citizenship. This course explores four core units: International relations, Human rights, Development, Peace and Conflict. Students will analyze global events and trends through the lens of international relations, political ideologies, and geopolitical strategies. Students will engage with diverse perspectives through a range of materials, including current news articles, short documentaries, and interactive case studies. Throughout the course, students will participate in debates, simulations (such as a United Nations Security Council) and practice their reading, writing and presentation skills.

This course introduces students to the range of political systems around the world and the conceptions of justice on which they are based. Students will learn about the differences between democratic, authoritarian, and hybrid political systems. We will look at the varieties of ways that power is organized in each type of system, some of the reasons for those differences, and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of system from the point of view of accountability to citizens, stability, economic growth, and human well being. We will explore these systems in theory, by looking at the ideas in the systems about what individuals and communities need, what governments should do to meet those needs, and what is necessary to ensure that the government does what it is intended to do. We will also look at the systems in practice by examining specific political systems and consider whether the actual operation of various governments achieve the goals that justify the organization of power. Students will be assessed with short essays focused on comparing political systems, discussing the impact of institutional contexts on how citizens and public officials can and do act, and how concepts of justice are implemented in the organization of power in political systems. Essays are designed to promote academic writing through robust feedback. Students will have the opportunity to make revisions based on the feedback they receive.

Mathematics is a fundamental „language“ needed for working in sciences, economics and engineering – and of course in mathematics itself. The purpose of this course is to refresh some known background from school and to augment it to a base of skills and tools on the level of a standard college algebra course. To this end, we will closely follow the freely available textbook https://people.math.wisc.edu/~jwrobbin/112online/UWCABook.pdf and work on abstract concepts as well as concrete examples; the taught material will be complemented by assignments to be solved by the students.

This course continues the development of foundational mathematical skills essential for further study in the sciences, economics, engineering, and mathematics itself. Building on the material from College Algebra I, this second part introduces new concepts while reinforcing previously studied topics. The primary focus will be on three key areas: exponents and exponential functions, trigonometry, and logarithms. We will combine abstract reasoning with concrete problem-solving. Students will engage with the material through lectures, discussions, and regular assignments.

This course presents the foundations of differential calculus by examining functions and their derivatives. Since the derivative measures the instantaneous rate of change of a function this idea forms the basis for many mathematical formulas in science, engineering, economics, and other fields. This course also provides instruction in how to model situations in order to solve problems. Applications include graphing, and maximizing and minimizing functions. In addition to two weekly lectures, students attend a weekly recitation focused on applications.

This course will give the student the mathematical tools necessary for understanding certain elements of biology, chemistry and physics. These tools will enable the student to do unit conversions, graphing, data manipulation in Google sheets and perform statistics on sets of data. The specific topics to be covered are basic algebraic manipulations; data entry, calculations, and graphing in Google Sheets & Desmos; dimensional analysis; determining linear parameters & linear regression; functions with emphasis on the quadratic equation as applied to equilibrium concentrations and motion in one plane. Time permitting, we will also cover curve fitting/regression analysis for other functions; elementary descriptive stats and inferential stats. I hope to work with individuals or groups of students in Break-out rooms.

Data science uses scientific methods to collect, evaluate, summarize and learn from all kinds of data. The course will focus on statistical data science, which includes methods that are essential to business, medical and health sciences, artificial intelligence, fraud detection, forensics, the natural and social sciences, and even the arts. A knowledge of basic data science is needed for most areas of university study, and is considered essential job training in many careers. In this course you will learn basic data science methods to collect, manage, summarize, visualize and learn from data. Students should come away from the course understanding basic statistical and data science terms and concepts, able to perform some analyses on the computer, and feel prepared for a college-level course in data science or statistics.

This course trains students in a basic understanding of data analysis skills. Students will learn how to work with spreadsheets, including organizing and formatting data. Additionally, the course introduces R, a popular tool for data analysis. Through practical exercises, students will learn basic data manipulation, create graphs, and use basic statistics to draw conclusions from data. By the end of the course, students will know how to work with data and do the necessary analysis for a basic research project. No prior knowledge of R is needed, making this course a great starting point for beginners looking to learn how to do research.

In this lecture you will learn how to combine statistics and programming in the scope of data analysis for research. The basics of python will be covered, and real datasets will be used, so that you will experience of a data science project: - The question to answer - Finding and preparing the data - Data visualization and statistics - The answer to the question Python is more complex than Excel, but you will learn to cherish its versatility, its clarity and its power.

Psychological stress is a universal human experience. Why is too much stress bad for us and how can stress protect us? Discussion will cover the physiology of stress, the effect of stress on chronic disease risk, and ways to improve our emotional and biological responses to stress. What can we do to better cope with the stress in our lives? Through lecture, discussion, quizzes, and brief assignments we will explore how stress studies are conducted and how we can apply this to our daily lives. Students will be able to: 1. Explain the major stress responsive systems in the body and how they affect chronic disease (diabetes, heart disease, etc) 2. Learn about stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression 3. Explain and define the primary stress reduction strategies

Introduction to environmental health concepts. How does our environment impact our health? Learn about One Health, climate change, environmental factors involved in transmitting communicable diseases, prevention of natural disasters, environmental justice, and more. Students will understand how our living environment influences our health, the environmental health disparities of specific populations, and ways to address the impact of environmental change.

This course is designed for non-science majors as well as scientists with an interest in observing the night sky and learning about the science of stars. We will discuss the contributions of different cultures throughout history to this oldest of sciences and how they observed and thought about the sky. We will also look at modern day tools and results to find out about the types of stars, how stars change, galaxies and other strange astronomical objects.

This course is NOT a substitute for "Intro to Chemistry for Health Professionals". Instead, "Medical Chemistry" is less rigorous, covering the fundamentals of chemistry, which are critical to medicine. Students will develop a strong foundation in chemical principles through problem-solving and critical thinking, with an emphasis on applications relevant to the medical field.

For thousands of years, the olive and its precious oil have been important to human civilization and development, especially in the Mediterranean and Middle East. This course will begin with the history of olive change?How can olive oil production be sustainable in a future threatened by climate change?trees and their symbolic importance in ancient art, culture, and religion. We will explore methods of production, the chemical composition, and the biologically active compounds contained in the oil. Extra virgin olive oil is the oil of highest quality, but is it the healthiest oil one can consume? We will critically read studies that have led to these claims, particularly focusing on the Mediterranean diet. How does the chemistry of the oil affect its use in the preparation and tasting of foods? We will also consider uses of olive oil outside the kitchen and explore its ritual incorporation in the ancient world and its usefulness in the making of soap and cosmetics. What are the parameters by which oils are graded and evaluated? How can olive oil production be sustainable in a future threatened by climate change?

In this 8-week course, we will cover the key elements of cell structure. This includes: Observing cells through microscopy Defining “what is alive” Comparing the structure and function of prokaryotes and eukaryotes Comparing infectious organisms - viruses, bacteria and eukaryotic pathogens Depending upon time, we may also discuss: Mitosis - cell division Structure and function of chromosomes, genes and DNA

This course is designed for the biology or pre-professional major whose academic and professional careers demand upper-level biology courses. This includes students who want to major in biology, marine biology, zoology, microbiology, cellular/molecular biology, biochemistry, as well as students preparing for further study in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and other health-related careers. This course is part of a 2-course series that covers major themes and principles of biology including principles of chemistry, biological molecules, cell structure and function, cellular metabolism, cell division and its controls, mendelian and molecular genetics, gene expression, and biotechnology.

An introduction to the basic principles of chemistry with focus on atomic and electronic structure, bonding, intermolecular forces, acid/base chemistry and oxidation and reduction. Special emphasis will be placed upon applications to biological systems and health related fields

Basic Anatomy I and II are lecture-based courses that cover the fundamentals of human structure, including tissues and organs. The courses provide foundational learning modalities to study the major organ systems, including the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, endocrine, lymphatic, and reproductive systems.

We live in an age where information on any topic is easy to find online. And that’s great! But how do we know if the information is real or fake? What steps can we take to ensure that we are getting the most accurate information from sources we can trust? Why is this so important in our everyday lives and in an academic context? These are some of the questions we will explore in this course. In addition, you will understand what kind of evidence you can find online to support your own ideas. Learning to acknowledge the sources you used will be another focus of this course. Keep in mind, participation is a key to learning; it will help you remember what you learn, and it will give you opportunities to practice, so do your best to participate in class. Our virtual classroom is a safe place to learn and make mistakes!

This course will introduce many important concepts in academic research across the entire research process. We will explore topic development and how to choose effective keywords. We will cover the different types of academic sources, with a focus on how to find and evaluate scholarly sources through database searching. We will also explain citation and appropriate use of sources, including issues of paraphrasing and plagiarism. The content will be applicable across all academic fields of study.

This course is designed to help students gain the tools and confidence to write powerful college essays that highlight their strengths, resilience, and unique voices. Students will learn brainstorming techniques and how to craft essays that show, rather than tell, their stories. Through guided exercises, peer feedback, and structured revisions, students will produce polished essays tailored to real application prompts. In addition to U.S.-style application essays, students will also learn to write a Statement of Purpose (SoP) for universities like those in the UK (UCAS) and Canada, which emphasize academic interest and career goals. By the end of the course, students will have a polished portfolio of essays ready for submission.

The Colloquium is an honors seminar designed to provide motivated students with information and guidance to help them pursue and complete their higher education through opportunities offered outside Afghanistan. The Colloquium is by invitation only.

For advanced students and those who have completed the AFSO Colloquium. This course prepares students for the Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing sections of the TOEFL iBT. Some attention also to Duolingo English Test Preparation. Those who complete practice tests with high scores will be eligible for a TOEFL or Duolingo voucher.

For advanced students and those who have completed the AFSO Colloquium. This course prepares students for the Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing sections of the TOEFL iBT. Some attention also to Duolingo English Test Preparation. Those who complete practice tests with high scores will be eligible for a TOEFL or Duolingo voucher.

TBD