Project Draft Introduction

The four lenses of liberal arts allow a person to look at any topic from different points of views. This can allow someone to broaden their knowledge of a topic and gain new perspectives that they would not have considered previously. The four lenses are history, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The history lens is more than dates and events. It looks deeper into how those events may have impacted our world. Questions that a historian might ask include How these certain events impacted the world, what incidents led up to the main event and was there anything in the past that could have prevented this from occurring. Historians might use primary and secondary sources to help their research. Primary sources could include photographs, diaries, oral recordings, plays, and novels(Kronzek, 2020). A few secondary sources they might use are literature reviews, bibliographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias(Kronzek, 2020). The humanities identify similarities and differences between cultures and values. They utilize creative works such as music, poems, dance, and art to understand people and society like history uses primary and secondary sources (What are the Humanities). Humanitarians might ask questions such as, how does a piece of art help understand a culture and how does religion impact how a group of people act toward one another? Social science lens studies the behavior of humans as well as social interactions and relationships amongst each other(García, 2020). By studying people, a person can get a better understanding of how a person lives and how it can improve the quality of life. Questions asked through this lens may include, how do people interact, how the past has shaped their future, and will certain interactions influence their society. Research from the social sciences is obtained through qualitative and quantitative surveys. Quantitative surveys produce results that can be converted into a numerical value (García, 2020). On the other hand, qualitative surveys ask indepth questions that cannot always represent an entire society (García, 2020). Natural sciences use observations, predictions, and scientific methods to understand the natural world. According to the Shapiro Library, unlike the humanities and social sciences, natural scientists use analysis and measurable testing to understand the world. The scientific method involves certain steps that must be followed in order to gain accurate results. The scientist must make an observation, ask a question, form a hypothesis, make a prediction, test the prediction then draw conclusions(Biscontini, 2020). Each of these four lenses are different from each other but they hold many similarities. The social and natural sciences both use data to understand the world. Humanities, history, and social sciences all study humans whether it pertains to artifacts, past events, and creative works. The four lenses have allowed me to explore topics differently than I would have before. For this project, my topic of choice is climate change. I know there are many events that have led to the current climate conditions. I also know that certain human behaviors have contributed to our climate change. I would like to research how pollution has changed the society we are living in. Also, whether certain societies are more at risk than others and if there are events or certain actions that could have prevented the current climate change. Another interest I have is what does the future of our planet looks like if nothing is done.