MCELLBI C44
Biology for Voters
This is a Discovery Course for non-Biology majors designed to introduce lower-division college students to biology through the lens of the contemporary problems facing people, the planet and the species of the planet. Modern genetic contributions will be presented on such issues as genetic engineering of plants and animals, the emergence of new pathogens, the role of genetic variation among individuals, and the extent to which DNA is and isn't destiny. Each week will close with the presentation and discussion of a defining biological challenge facing the world.
Topics
- The learning objectives will be, at one end, to understand what an experiment is, how is it controlled and what does one need to know about an experiment to be able to rely upon any conclusion. That is the fundamental issue in all science, and is frequently overlooked in many media accounts of science. A second objective is to learn enough of the language of biology to be able to ask the kind of informed questions that we would want all elected representatives to pay attention to. A third objective is for students to cultivate confidence that through non-specialized information sources they can become informed consumers of contemporary scientific thought, and to develop those habits of intellect to think about evidence in a scientific manner. A fourth objective is for students to enjoy the abundance of high quality books, articles and multimedia that will enable a lifetime of discovery outside the structure of a college course.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027