Course Finder

This course allows older adults to create a variety of decorative arts and crafts projects, including stationary, personal home accessories or decoration, paper, fancy boxes, jewelry, bookends, botanicals, sachets, wreaths, floral candles, bread dough art, wind chimes, and more.

This course provides older adults with an opportunity to create pieces of jewelry and learn an assortment of different techniques involved in creating jewelry. Students also learn about the wide range of materials available for making jewelry. Older adults make bracelets, earrings, and necklaces using techniques such as wire wrapping and bending, macrame, pearl knotting, crimping, and bead-weaving. Each week students learn a new technique and make a piece of jewelry using that technique.

Please see “Independent Studies” section.

Please see “Independent Studies” section.

IGETC Foreign Language (required for UC only)

Satisfies Global Citizenship

• Prerequisite: None.

This is an introductory course of American Sign Language (ASL) with an emphasis on signing, receptive skills, signing parameters, the glossing system and numbers. This course provides a historical introduction, cultural awareness and cross-cultural adjustment skills. Non-verbal communication is emphasized. Homework assignments will include, but are not limited to, attendance and involvement at community events.

IGETC AREA 3B (Arts and Humanities), Foreign Language (required for UC only)

Satisfies Global Citizenship

• Prerequisite: None.
• Advisory: American Sign Language 1*.

*The advisory for this course is comparable to two years of high school American Sign Language.

This course is a continuation of ASL 1. Instruction will include further studies of the elementary skills for the fundamentals of ASL: grammar, receptive, and expressive. There will also be extensive instruction on the Deaf Culture and Community, which will be presented in readings, videos and discussion in ASL. Non-verbal communication is emphasized.

• Corequisite: Any course in ASL.

This course -- taken in tandem with another course in the discipline -- enables a student to apply course content in a meaningful and relevant way to a particular activity. In this hands-on course, students engage in applied learning through unpaid experiential activities organized by the student (in conjunction with SMC’s applied/service learning center) and approved by the instructor. Students will develop a customized reading list relevant to their particular activity, complete a minimum of 15 hours of volunteer work with that activity, and submit academically-sound written reports regarding the activity. By applying course material to their experience, students develop a deeper understanding of the discipline.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: None.

*Maximum credit allowed for Astronomy 1 and Astronomy 3 is one course (4 units).

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the fascinating subject of astronomy with an emphasis on the study of the Sun and other stars. Topics covered include the motions of the sky, a survey of the history of astronomy from Kepler to Einstein, gravity, radiation and matter, astronomical instrumentation, the Sun, stars, star formation, stellar evolution, galaxies and cosmology.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Advisory: Astronomy 2 or 4 or Geology 1 or 4.

This course provides a geologic and astronomic view of solar system exploration. Current knowledge of the geology of other planets, natural satellites and asteroids is discussed. Current studies in planetary science and how to access and utilize data collected from modern and historic planetary missions and Earth-based studies are also examined.

Astronomy 10 is the same course as Geology 10. Students may earn credit for one, but not both.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: None.

*Maximum credit allowed for Astronomy 2 and Astronomy 4 is one course (4 units).

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the fascinating subject of astronomy with an emphasis on the study of the Earth and the other planets in the solar system. Topics covered include the motions of the sky, a survey of the history of astronomy from the Greeks to Einstein, phases of the moon, eclipses, gravity, the formation of the solar system, the Earth, Terrestrial and Jovian planets, their moons, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and a discussion of extrasolar planets around other stars.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, + LAB)

• Prerequisite: None.

*Maximum credit allowed for Astronomy 1 and Astronomy 3 is one course (4 units).

This survey course covers the same material as Astronomy 1, but includes a laboratory section covering hands-on astronomical activities. The laboratory portion includes observations of the sky, computer simulations, the construction of simple astronomical instruments and analyzing publicly available astronomical data from the internet.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, + LAB)

• Prerequisite: None.

*Maximum credit allowed for Astronomy 2 and Astronomy 4 is one course (4 units).

This is a 4-unit introductory level lab course with a similar curricular depth and breadth to its comparable 3-unit lecture course Astronomy 2. In the lab component, students begin by re-creating many historical, first-ever human discoveries and measurements that helped to develop the scientific method: the size of Earth, Moon, and Sun, their relative distances, the scale of planetary orbits, phases, diameters, densities, masses, surface features, atmospheres, and rates of rotation. The labs also engage students in basic observations of the sky, computer simulations, and analysis of archival data from public domain sky surveys and surface maps by robotic NASA rovers and orbiting probes. The course material is a single semester survey of the origin and evolution of planetary systems such as our own Solar System including the latest leading theories of planetary topography, atmospheres, interiors, moons, comets, asteroids, and aurorae produced by the interaction of planetary magnetism and particle outflows from the Sun.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: None.

This course surveys the latest ideas concerning the origin and evolution of life on earth and discusses how these ideas are influencing our search for life on other planets in our solar system and elsewhere in the Universe. Topics covered include the chemical and biological basis of life, the search for life on Mars, extrasolar planets and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

IGETC AREA 4 (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

Satisfies Global Citizenship

• Prerequisite: None.

This course will stress naked-eye astronomy and the historical development of astronomical thought, from the stone age to modern times. Students will learn about celestial motions and how these motions have shaped various cultural views, and how cultural beliefs and values shaped interpretations of the phenomena seen. We will see how eclipses of the sun and moon helped mark important epochs of time, and how solar and lunar motions were used to help create calendars. The class will study the development of astronomy in western European cultures, American cultures (North America, Mesoamerica, and South America), and non-western cultures (Asia, Africa).

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: None.

This course explores how our ideas surrounding the origin, evolution and future of the universe have developed from earliest times until present day. Topics discussed include creation mythology, gravity, matter and radiation, relativity, cosmic expansion and acceleration, the Big Bang, dark matter and dark energy, the cosmic microwave background, inflation and the multiverse.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: Math 2 or (Math 3 and 4).

A rigorous quantitative introduction to the physics of astronomy for prospective majors and mathematically-minded enthusiasts. The course employs graphing techniques, systems of equations, and geometric analysis to survey a wide range of astronomical phenomena including stellar evolution, planetary physics, and extragalactic cosmology. Emphasis will be placed upon deploying expedient methods of approximation to solve problems in emerging frontiers of research such as exoplanets, brown dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, quasars, dark matter, and gamma-ray bursts. This curriculum provides an extraordinary opportunity for the motivated student to experience the thrill of applied math in the cosmic context of 21st century astrophysics.

IGETC AREA 5A (Physical Sciences, non-lab)

• Prerequisite: Math 8; and Physics 8 or Physics 21.

A robust calculus-based treatment of Astrophysics suited for science majors and mathematically-minded enthusiasts. The course makes use of methods in quantitative analysis including dynamical physics, differential and integral calculus, trigonometry and advanced graphing techniques to address a wide range of astronomical phenomena including stellar properties, interior structure, stellar evolution, variable stars, planetary atmospheres and gaseous nebulae, and the large-scale structure of the Universe. Emphasis will be placed on finding analytic solutions to problems in emerging areas of research such as exoplanetary systems, red giants, white dwarfs, supernovae, neutron stars, pulsars, black holes, the interstellar medium, dark matter, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, dark energy and big bang nucleosynthesis. This curriculum provides a remarkable opportunity for the motivated student to experience the power of applying calculus-based physics to the frontiers of contemporary astrophysical problems.

C-ID: AUTO 110 X.

• Prerequisite: None.

This is an introductory course which explores the maintenance, diagnosis, operation and safety of the modern automobile. It also covers tools, equipment and safe working practices in the automobile industry. Students are also familiarized with career opportunities in the field.

This course examines the fundamental operations and repairs of the automatic manual transmissions and drive train systems. Students will also learn about shop safety and environmental concerns regarding proper oil disposal, related tools and special equipment, and relevant automotive repair industry terms and practices.

This is a course which covers the principles, operation, diagnosis, service and repair of automotive transmissions and transaxles. Additional topics include shop safety, environmental concerns and a review of the automotive industry terms and conventions.