Final Project Part One Guidelines

Overview

This course explores popular culture and its impact on the world around us. Popular culture influences society, and society influences popular culture, creating a feedback loop between them.

We will critically analyze this feedback loop in this course through social, historical, and theoretical approaches to popular culture as well as the four general education lenses: history, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

Each of these four perspectives allows us to better understand the construction of popular culture and its interrelation with society. From this enhanced understanding, you will be equipped to draw connections between popular culture and your personal and professional lives, helping you to become a better-informed citizen who can make a positive difference in the world.

Popular culture has a pervading influence into many aspects of society, which requires diverse knowledge and perspectives to investigate and change. The purpose of this project is to examine a popular-culture artifact and how it impacts individuals and society through the development of a critical analysis portfolio and a presentation in which you will demonstrate your ability to think critically, investigate, and communicate clearly. These skills are often necessary to achieve personal and professional goals across many disciplines.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Analyze the various components of popular culture for investigating their influence on one's discipline of study or chosen profession

• Integrate interdisciplinary approaches for determining the impact of popular culture on various institutions

• Recommend strategies for utilizing the critical analysis of popular culture to develop one's personal and professional identity

• Assess the impact of popular culture on cultural and social attitudes, choices, and behaviors through the incorporation of diverse perspectives and viewpoints informed by relevant literature

Prompt

For the first part of this project, you will select an artifact from popular culture and critically analyze it through the four general education lenses: history, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Through viewing the artifact through these lenses, you will gain insight into how the mediated nature of popular culture affects society as well as both your own individual framework of perception and the choices, attitudes, and behaviors of others in the world around you.

You will compile your analyses within a portfolio that will include an analysis of each lens, plus introduction and conclusion  paragraphs. Altogether, this portfolio should be 6-8 pages long, not counting references. Within your portfolio, each analysis should be 3 to 5 paragraphs long.

You are encouraged to supplement your analyses with visuals that you think would help the reader of the portfolio better understand it; however, visuals are not required. Be sure to support your analyses with appropriate and relevant evidence from theory and research.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Critical Analysis Portfolio: For the first part of the project, you will compile a series of critical analyses of a single popular-culture artifact through the four general education lenses: history, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

A. Introduction: In this section of your portfolio, you will describe your artifact and explain how it relates to popular culture.

i. Why is your artifact a piece of popular culture? Describe what it is about your artifact that tells you it is a product of popular culture's
mediation. In describing these components, consider what social, theoretical, and historical statements your artifact may be making.

B. Lens Analysis: In this section of your portfolio, you will analyze your popular-culture artifact through each of the four general education lenses.

i. Analyze your artifact through the lens of humanities for determining its impact on various institutions. Utilize evidence from theory and
research to support your analysis.

ii. Analyze your artifact through the lens of the social sciences for determining impact on various institutions. Utilize evidence from theory
and research to support your analysis.

iii. Analyze your artifact through the lens of history for determining its impact on various institutions. Utilize evidence from theory and
research to support your analysis.

iv. Analyze your artifact through the lens of the natural sciences for determining impact on various institutions. Utilize evidence from theory
and research to support your analysis.

C. Conclusion: In this section of your portfolio, you will explore what is gained by studying popular culture and analyzing your artifact through each of the four general education lenses.

i. How does integrating all four lenses help you understand how popular culture impacts society? What is the interconnection or feedback
loop between your artifact and society?

ii. Describe strategies for how you can utilize popular culture in your field of study, profession, and/or everyday life, providing suggestions on how to use it and incorporate it.

iii. Describe ways in which you can utilize the four lenses for approaching critical analysis in your field of study, profession, and/or everyday
life.

iv. Explain how analyzing popular culture can help you interact with those of a different viewpoint, culture, and perspective.

Milestones

Milestone One: Popular Culture and Me

In Module Two, you will select an artifact to analyze through the four general education lenses. You will explain the artifact and its relationship to popular culture as well as describe its connection to all four lenses. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Analyzing a Popular-Culture Artifact Through the Lenses of the Humanities and the Social Sciences

In Module Four, you will analyze your popular-culture artifact through the humanities and social sciences lenses. This will provide you with a chance to practice analyzing your artifact through these lenses and receive feedback on this practice attempt. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Four: Analyzing a Popular Culture-Artifact Through the Lenses of History and the Natural Sciences

In Module Six, you will analyze your popular-culture artifact through the lenses of history and the natural sciences. Like Milestone Two, this task provides you with an opportunity to dive deeper into your analysis of the artifact through these two lenses. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

Final Project Part One Submission: Critical Analysis Portfolio

In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Part One Rubric.