On this study abroad, students will visit various important historical, artistic, and architectural locations in Berlin. In addition to visiting and learning about these sites, students will read and discuss multiple literary texts (fiction, drama, and poetry) in both German and English. These literary texts either take place in or are in some way about the sites that students visit. This will provide students with the unique opportunity to consider German literature—in the original and in translation—within its larger historical, social, and political contexts. Furthermore, through the reading and discussing of these texts on site, students will gain greater appreciation of German history and culture. Students will also write a reflective essay in which they draw connections between the literature they read and the sites they visit.
From the University of Wisconsin-Platteville 2024-2025 General Education Advising Handbook Section Humanities General Education requirements
“Humanities General Education Requirement
What do students learn in a humanities course?
Humanities courses help students develop their skills in qualitative analysis, which involves the investigation of a qualitative text and its layers of meaning. A qualitative text can be a short story, a film, a philosophical essay, or any number of things! Regardless of the material, students will learn how to make analytical claims and how to explain and support these claims with textual evidence.”
This description is the guiding educational philosophy for the UWP Study 3030: Castles, Cars, and Craftmanship: History and Engineering in Germany; through multimodal interdisciplinary textual work students will make analytical claims and then have the opportunity to support, explain, and adjust their analysis through written and group reflections. Reading academic research and artistic accounts will come into meaningful focus as students personally encounter historic, cultural, and social artifacts — through prepared site visits, document research, and through personal witness. This is hands-on, experiential, place-based education.
One example for why we are asking for a consideration that this STFL count for Humanities General Education requirement is the course visit to Berlin, the capital of Germany. In Berlin and in particular the Museum Island day, June 5, 2025. This day will include a site visit to the Museum Topography of Terror (Topographie des Schreckens). The pre-departure readings include an excerpt from Karen Till, The New Berlin, University of Minnesota Press, 2005. Students then will be able to experience the gravity of this site in person and do their own document research. This aligns with the description of the Humanities
General Education Requirement course learning expectation (see below).
“What can students expect in a humanities course?
Students in humanities courses can expect reading and discussion to be significant parts of the course. Humanities courses focus on communication and collaboration: students work together to discuss different interpretations strategies, which builds their skills in active listening and perspective taking.”