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As the first batch of CHS students head into our final year of undergraduate education, most of us have probably cleared the CHS common curriculum by now. I’m in this category of students who just completed all CHS requirements this semester so in my sixth and final review, here’s taking a look at the courses I took to fulfill my remaining CHS pillars.
Disclaimer: All of the following courses were taken in AY 24/25 Sem 1 and the structures of these courses MAY BE DIFFERENT in subsequent sems. All views expressed in this article are my own so please only take this review as an unofficial guide. More detailed information can be found in the links at the bottom of this article.
HS2912 - Polymaths: Innovating Between Art and Science
Lecturers: Prof Maiya Murphy, Dr. Chng Hui Ting
Tutor: Thong Pei Qin
TLDR: Exploring how the intersectionality between art and science is bigger than you think.
Description of course
One of the many Interdisciplinary Courses offered by CHS, HS2912 is a course jointly taught by the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, and the Department of Pharmacy.
HS2912 brings students on a journey to find out why many renowned arts and science practitioners throughout history often cross disciplinary barriers in their work, training us to look at different disciplines through the lens of another. This form of thinking will be useful for the group project, where students from both arts and science disciplines will have to work together to innovate something new for a museum as well as create an interdisciplinary solution to a problem.
Weekly tutorials from weeks 3-13 are 2 hours long and held on campus, with tutors having us apply lecture concepts to various activities, such as observing a sugar cube dissolving and carrying out simple scientific experiments on medicine tablets. Two tutorials will also be spent on visits to the NUS Museum and the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM), where students will have the chance to approach exhibits in an interdisciplinary fashion.
This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards and students are encouraged to have completed at least two Level-1000 CHS courses first (HSI1000, HSH1000, any Data Literacy and any Digital Literacy course).
Students from the Data Science and Economics (DSE-XDP), Environmental Studies (BES-XDP) and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Cross-Disciplinary Programmes (PPE-XDP) are exempted from taking CHS Interdisciplinary Courses.
Alternative courses:
University Scholars Programme (USP) students - NHS4001 (Critical Reflection)
NUS College (NUSC) students - NHS or NST courses (Making Connections)
UTown College Programme (UTCP) students - UTS Level-2000 courses (Senior Seminar)
Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) students - RVC courses
CHS-College of Design and Engineering Double Degree Programme (CHS-CDE DDP) students - PF1101 (Fundamentals of Project Management)
CHS students can read any of the following -
HS2901 (Music, Mathematics, and Code)
HS2902 (”Do Play Play”: The Importance of Play)
HS2903 (Sporting Bodies)
HS2904 (Driving Towards the Future: Battery Electric Vehicles)
HS2905 (Cheeseburger in Paradise: Why We Eat What We Eat)
HS2906 (Saltwater: Society and the Sea)
HS2907 (Earth and Beyond)
HS2908 (Nature and Nurture: Rethinking Sex and Gender)
HS2909 (The Rise and Fall and Rise of China)
HS2911 (Social Media and Mental Health)
HS2912 (Polymaths: Innovating Between Art and Science)
HS2913 [Representing Live(s): Research, Performance and Stories]
HS2914 (How to Get Humans and Machines to Talk to Each Other)
HS2915 (Beyond the Good and Evil of Drugs)
HS2916 (Love That Kills: A Criminal Justice Perspective)
HS2917 (The Meaning of Colour)
HS2918 (Pain Points: The Problem with Pain)
HS2919 (Blood and Womb: Culture and the Body in Malay Society)
HS2920 (Transition to Clean and Just Energy)
HS2921 (Effective Altruism in Theory and Practice)
HS2922 (Major US Supreme Court Cases and Big Ideas Behind Them)
HS2923 (Human-Animal Relations: History, Biodiversity and Ethics)
HS2924 (Building Mental Wellbeing and Resilience)
HS2925 (Environmental Pollution: A Crisis of Our Own Making?)
HS2926 (CRISPR: Saving Lives or Playing God?)
HS2927 (Agree to Disagree Well: Disagreement in Singapore)
HS2928 (Grasping Infinity: Paradoxes and Applications)
HS2929 (Facts or Feelings: What Drives Environmental Decisions)
NHS2082 (The Rise of Hip-hop from America to Asia)
NST2055 (Comprehending Sound Around Us)
NST2056 (Computing Machines, Models, and Mind)
Assessment
Mid-Term Test (20%)
Group Project 1 (Worksheets, Presentation and Viva) (20%)
Final Group Project (Group Component) (20%)
Final Group Project (Individual Component) (20%)
4 Reflective Journals (20%)
Pros
HS2912 provides a good look into the world of interdisciplinary learning, not being too science- or art-heavy. This makes the course content accessible to all students regardless of faculty and could prove to be applicable or even useful to students’ own majors. Tutorials were also quite engaging, giving students a chance to embark on museum visits and try out activities from different fields of study.
HS2912’s lectures are also taught in an almost theatrical way, adopting a sequential nature that normal content-delivering lectures lack. Lectures feel like a drawn-out conversation between both lecturers, oftentimes involving the students as well. This made lectures quite entertaining and breaks the monotony of what might otherwise be an information overload session.
Finally, HS2912 is also decently low workload, with assignments and projects being well spaced-out throughout the semester, giving students ample time to work on everything.
Part of my group's CA2 presentation, where we combined an orangutan exhibit from the LKCNHM and an art piece from the NUS Museum. Affectionately called "Orangutan Back to Nature", this may have been a bit of fun for us to create but also stemmed from a combination of our different academic perspectives.
Cons
HS2912 has way too many assessments, some of which do not fit the nature of the course. For example, having to watch and glean information from a 10-minute clip from a play is probably not the best idea for a question in a midterm. More importantly, the midterm in general feels unnecessary as it almost rewards memorisation rather than actual engagement with and application of course content.
Also, while not a major issue, students (or at least those in my tutorial class) were not informed of the expectations for the CA3 presentation until the day itself. Students went in expecting to carry out a typical “academic” presentation only to be informed by the tutor that they were looking for a “Shark Tank pitch”. Ultimately, it wasn’t a big deal because the slides itself weren’t graded and the presentation format was secondary as the content was what mattered. However, it doesn’t feel right for students to get such last minute notice, on the presentation day itself no less, for it might cause unnecessary stress for students who might rush to change their presentation method at the eleventh hour.
Personal thoughts
HS2912 was (technically) the last CHS course I had to complete and I’m glad I chose it. It served as a brief respite from my heavier Level-3000 and 4000 courses, giving me the chance to dabble in something imaginative and let my interdisciplinary thinking run wild even if just for a project. Based on my understanding of the various CHS Interdisciplinary Courses, this is probably one of the least skewed courses, not leaning too far into the arts or sciences and properly adapting the concept of “interdisciplinarity”.
Nowadays, “interdisciplinary learning” is a phrase thrown around without much understanding but HS2912 truly embodies that concept. I found myself looking at problems and situations through the lens of my science peers, when beforehand I would’ve only looked at it like a typical arts student would. Inculcating the ability to see things from multiple perspectives is a big reason why CHS was created in the first place, so it’s a great thing that HS2912 gives us a chance to practise this way of thinking.
Of course, HS2912 is not without its flaws. I would have preferred for the midterm to be removed entirely and the weightage be increased for the individual reflections, which would be a better way to measure whether students have properly engaged with and learned from course content rather than having us do a timed exam, which fits more into rote-learning methods. I hope the teaching team takes this into consideration for future iterations and also ensure that students are made aware of project expectations well in advance.
Overall, I would definitely recommend HS2912 for anyone who’s looking to clear their CHS Interdisciplinary Courses.
NM4230 - Communications for Social Change
Instructor: Dr. Soh Kai Ruo
TLDR: How are communication campaigns implemented to create a positive change in society?
Description of course
Fulfilling the GE Communities and Engagement (GEN) pillar, NM4230 is taught by the Department of Communications and New Media. Part of the PR and Organisations cluster of CNM courses, the course provides students with an in-depth look into how different aspects of communication campaigns create social change for vulnerable and disproportionately affected communities.
This will culminate in a group project spanning the entire semester, where groups will work with a real client on a social issue relevant to their cause and craft a communication campaign in line with their client’s goals.
Weekly seminars are 3 hours long and held on campus, with students being introduced to different development communication theories and how they are used in real world communication campaigns. Many seminars are also used for “Leading Discussions”, an individual assessment where students conduct small group discussions on a case study of their choice related to the topic for that week. Most seminars will also have time at the end for project groups to discuss and workshop their campaigns.
Alternative courses:
UTCP students - UTC Level-1000 courses (Junior Seminar)
RVRC students - RVN courses
USP students -
CHS students can read any of the following -
GEN2000 (Living Culture: Engaging Indian Communities in Singapore)
GEN2001 (Theatre and Community Engagement)
GEN2002 (Total Defence Project Against a Threat to the Community)
GEN2003 (Inclusivity and Equality: Domestic Worker Community)
GEN2004 (Green Communities in Action: Climate, Species, Crisis)
GEN2005 (”Chineseness”: Engaging Singapore Chinese Communities)
GEN2006 (Communications for Inter-generational Engagement)
GEN2007 (Resilience in Restoration)
GEN2050 (Teach SG)
GEN2060 (Reconnect SeniorsSG)
GEN2061 (Support Healthy AgeingSG)
GEN2062 (Community Activities for Seniors with SG Cares)
GEN2070 [Community Link (ComLink) Befrienders]
SE3216 (Migration: Diaspora and Refugees in Southeast Asia)
SE3226 (Hard at work: the changing face of labour in SEA)
CLC1101 (Engaging and Building Communities)
CLC2204 (Community Development With Youth)
CLC3303 (Community Leadership)
CLC3304A (City, Culture and Community)
CLC3307 (Learning for Social Change)
Assessment
Seminar Participation (15%)
Leading a Group Discussion (20%)
Individual Paper (Reflection) (15%)
Group Presentation (10%)
Group Project (30%)
Peer Evaluation (10%)
Pros
Despite being geared as social change-focused, NM4230 is useful for students looking to work in the field of campaign communications as the skills taught in this course are very important for running campaigns in general. Things like knowing your target audience and aligning with clients can apply to industries like advertising and marketing and need not necessarily be linked to just social change.
NM4230’s assessments are also generally well structured and I particularly like the leading discussion. This gives students the chance to not only apply course content to real-world happenings but also helps them be reflective, deeply engaging in the critical discourse happening during the discussion and training us to glean key points from them. This is a useful skillset to have as sometimes we will need to extract key points from a large piece of information or from a debate/discussion/sharing.
Finally, having guest lectures were also a great way for students to gain insight into a news professional's experience with how her content tied into social change and gave students a glimpse into how these are applied in the real world.
Cons
Though the content taught is useful, NM4230's seminars can be quite dry and content-heavy, as there is quite a lot of information covered in each class. Of course, this problem is largely unavoidable since the number of weeks in a semester are fixed.
While assessments are generally well structured, the class participation component of NM4230’s assessment criteria is not very clear. With most CNM mods, there are ample class participation chances during classes but with this course, those chances are almost always relegated to the leading discussion components. This is not inherently bad but it does raise the question of whether there's a need to even have class participation graded separately from the leading discussion, as it is impossible for the instructor to fairly assess everyone from their contributions to the leading discussion, especially if they themselves were not the person leading any of that week’s discussions.
Personal thoughts
To be totally honest, NM4230 was never on my radar until I realised that it could be double-counted towards the GEN pillar. Figuring I could kill two birds with one stone, I took up this course not knowing what I was really getting myself into. It was a taxing course for sure, with a group project that basically started from the second week of the semester and took up a good portion of time with ideation, creation and workshopping.
That said, I don’t regret taking this course on a whim. It may have started as a course for double-counting but I would definitely consider this course useful. As someone who’s worked in advertising before, some of the skills and techniques honed in this course are incredibly useful, and I was truly exposed to directly liaising with clients, even more than when I was interning in an advertising agency.
There is little buffer between project groups and their clients (with the instructor only providing guidance as needed), and this puts students in a more realistic setting of being answerable to clients. This is a good skill to inculcate and I would strongly encourage students looking to go into advertising or related fields to take this course.
HS1404A - Career Compass IV
Coordinators: Beatrice Tan
Career Advisor: Kong Kum-Hoong
TLDR: End of the road.
Description of course
The fourth and final course in the Career Compass series, HS1404A hones students job search skills and aims to make them better prepared for the eventual job hunt.
Allocated to all Year 4 CHS students, this course aims to improve students’ work-readiness skills by focusing on resume updating and interview skills. This will be especially important as this course is for students in their graduating year.
Alternative courses:
FoS students - HS1404S (exact same content but under a different course code)
Assessment
Much like previous Career Compass courses, students are required to accumulate 100 points over the course of the AY, with varying number of points being attached to various activities. The course is graded on a Completed Satisfactorily/Unsatisfactory (CS/CU) basis and won’t be reflected on students’ transcripts.
Activities are split into four different categories (Immersion, Career Know-How, Industry Awareness, Personal Growth and Skills Development), and include securing a job offer, doing a full-time internship or completing any Roots and Wings 2.0 courses.
Pros
Like its predecessors, HS1404A is an AY-long non-credit bearing course that doesn’t require much effort to complete. Students can spread their activities out over both semesters or just “speed run” the course’s requirements in the first semester.
HS1404A is quite similar to its direct predecessor HS1403A, as both courses have students being a lot more hands-on in various aspects by assigning points to all kinds of activities. The usual internship experience would garner points as well but even getting a job offer, probably the greatest achievement to come out of a career course, would contribute to this requirement as well.
After all, the purpose of a career preparedness course is to prepare us for our futures in the workforce and HS1404A certainly attempts to help students in that way by ensuring that students are well-rounded individuals who don’t just go “all-in” into one facet of life while ignoring the rest.
Cons
N/A
Personal thoughts
Since I did a full-time internship in the most recent summer break (FAS2553A for reference), I automatically got 100 points for HS1404A and did not intentionally embark on any other activities. However, I think it’s good that students can complete many varied options to complete this course and they give students a good breadth of development.
The world outside of school isn’t just about building up work experience, though that is certainly important, but personal development is also crucial and will definitely help us too when we progress into the working world. This is especially important for the graduating batch as the inevitable job search scares many of us and hopefully this course is able to help us prepare for that search, even if only a little bit.
Just like with previous courses, I can’t come up with cons because there aren’t any and the entire CHS Career Compass series is a good tool for students to utilise NUS’ career resources.
For more information, please access the following links-
General Course Info: https://nusmods.com/courses?sem[0]=1&sem[1]=2&sem[2]=3&sem[3]=4
CHS Curriculum: https://chs.nus.edu.sg/programmes/
NUSC Courses: https://nuscollege.nus.edu.sg/learn/
RVRC Courses: https://rvrc.nus.edu.sg/rvrc-programme/rvrc-courses/
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