Royston 1

Christian Royston

CprE 494

18 October 2019

General Education Reflection

My general education classes have been a great way for me to learn more about topics

that interest me, but do not necessarily relate directly to engineering. The majority of my general

education classes that I have taken at Iowa State have been religion classes. Although these

classes might not seem related to engineering at all, there are some things that I did learn that

help with how I view engineering problems.

The first class I took was Relig 205, introduction to world religions. This class gave

insight into other religions around the world and has allowed me to be more openminded in how

I approach things. Being openminded can also help when I am problem solving, as I am able to

think about different aspects or views about one problem, similar to how a problem can be

viewed in different ways depending on religious beliefs. I also took Relig 352, religious

traditions of India. This class taught me about the various religions that exist in India and went in

depth about what their views are on certain issues. Lastly, I took Relig 380, Catholic social

thought. In this class I learned about many social issues that exist in the world and how the

Catholic religion views and responds to these issues. This class also allowed me to do individual

research and different topics, which gave me a good chance to find issues that I was interesting

in. Learning how to research helps with problem solving, because occasionally I need to do

research on a problem in order to better understand it.

 Royston 2

In the engineering field, it is very common to do group work and work with other people

that I may not be familiar with. I learned to be openminded by taking Relig 205, which does help

when working in a group. When it comes to problem solving in the engineering world, it is

important to have all people in a group on the same page and working to the same goal. The

easiest way to accomplish this is to better understand each other so that you can work better

together. Being able to work together will allow things to run smoothly in group work. In Relig

380, I learned how important research is to view and solve problems. This skill is important in

engineering because most projects that I will end up working on will require research. In senior

design, I have to research the topic that our project is related to. This class also helped me view

social issues in the world. One of these issues that I was able to understand more after doing

some research is renewable energy. Renewable energy is a very important field to focus on since

most of the other fuel sources will not last forever. This issue also relates to global warming in a

sense, as finding cleaner energy can help with decreasing harmful emissions.

The general education classes that I have taken at Iowa State have had an impact on me

and helped me learn things that have helped in my engineering field. My religion classes have

taught me to be openminded and how important research is to understanding issues. These are

important skills to have in my field of study. Overall, I have learned many things from my

general education classes and use things that I learned when solving engineering problems in the

future.