The general education course chaos and nonlinear thinking

In order to popularize the nonlinear dynamics and to improve the general education by integrating the new scientific achievements, the paper summarizes and analyzes the design and the practice of the course “Chaos and Nonlinear Thinking”. Nonlinear dynamics nowadays becomes a part of the general human knowledge. The course “Chaos and Nonlinear Thinking” is intended for all three categories of students, namely, those majored in science and technology, economics and management, as well as humanities, in Shanghai University. The course involves the scientific concepts of chaos and its cultural impacts. Nonlinearity is treated not only as a mathematical model but also a thinking mode. The course encourages the students to observe, analyze, and understand unpredictable and uncertain phenomena in nature or society via the nonlinear thinking. The teaching practice demonstrates that the nonlinear dynamics can be appropriately popularized for undergraduates in all fields to form a substantial part of a general education course.