Eastern
Division
of Academic Affairs
Request for New Course
Department: ______BIOLOGY______________ College: Arts and Sciences
Department
Contact: __Peggy
Liggit__________ Contact Phone: 487-0118
Contact Email: Peggy.Liggit@emich.edu
A. Rationale/Justification for the Course
This course addresses fundamental theoretical
aspects of the study of science not uniformly covered in other courses taken by
biology majors. BIOL 406 will examine
in-depth how scientific knowledge is acquired, how science and pseudoscience
differ, and science ethics as it relates to biology. This course will also contribute to satisfying
NCATE accreditation requirements for NSTA’s Standard 2 – Nature of Science and Standard 4 – Context of Science.
B. Course Information
1. Subject Code and Course Number: BIOL
406
2. Course
Title: The Nature of Science
3. Credit Hours:
1
4.
Catalog Description (Limit to 50 words.):
This course examines the nature of
scientific evidence, inquiry, hypotheses, models, and laws. The development of science is put in the
context of the structure and history of the scientific community. Interactions among scientists and between
scientists and the rest of society are studied from an ethical perspective.
5. Prerequisites: (List by Subject Code, Number and Title.) Students MUST
complete prerequisites before they can take this course.
BIOL
110: Intro Biology I,
BIOL 120: Intro Biology II,
BIOL 301: Genetics
Science majors or minors from other
programs with need departmental permission ____________
6.
Corequisites: (List by Subject Code, Number and Title.) Students MUST take corequisites at the same time as they are
taking this course.
7.
Concurrent Prerequisites: (List
by Subject Code, Number and Title.)
Students MUST take concurrent prerequisites EITHER before or at the same
time as they are taking this course.
8. Equivalent
Courses: (List by Subject Code, Number
and Title) Students may not earn credit for
both a course and its equivalent.
CHEM 406, ESSC 406, PHY406.
9.
Course Restrictions:
a.
Academic/Class Level (Check all those
who will be allowed to take the course.):
Undergraduate Graduate
Freshperson Certificate X
Sophomore X Masters X
Junior X Specialist X
Senior X
Doctoral X
Note:
Only 400-level undergraduate courses can be taken by graduate
students for graduate credit. Only Certificate and Masters
students may take these courses. If this is a 400-level course to be offered
for graduate credit, attach Approval Form for 400-level
Course for
Graduate Credit.
Note: Only 500-level graduate courses can be taken
by undergraduate students.
b. Will only students in
certain majors/programs be allowed to take this course? Yes No X
If yes, list the majors/programs
c. Will
Departmental Permission be Required? Yes (for students from other
department programs No for
dept. majors/minors
(Note:
Department permission requires the department to enter authorization for
every student registering.)
d. Is admission to a Specific
College Required?
10.
Will the course be offered for General Education credit? Yes No x
If
yes, attach Request for Approval of a General Education Course.
C. Relationship to Existing Courses
Within the Department:
11. List
all programs in which this course will be Required or
a Restricted Elective.
Program Secondary Teacher Certification
in Biology Required _x___ Restricted Elective
Program Required Restricted Elective
12. Will this course replace an existing course? Yes No x
NOTE: Complete #13
only if the answer to #12 is “Yes.” Complete #14
only if the answers to #12 and #13b are both “Yes.”
13. (Complete
only if the answer to #12 is “Yes.”)
a. Subject Code, Number and Title of course to be replaced:
b. Will the course to be replaced be deleted? Yes No
14. (Complete
only if the answers to #12 and #13b are both “Yes.”)
If the replaced course is to be deleted, it is not necessary to submit a
Request for Graduate and Undergraduate Course Deletion.
a. When is the last time it will be offered? Term Year
b. Is the course to be
deleted required by programs in other departments?
Contact the Course and
Program Development Office if necessary. Yes
No
c. If yes, do the affected
departments support this change? Yes No
If yes, attach letters
of support. If no, attach letters from
the affected department explaining the lack of support, if available.
Outside the
Department: The following information must be
provided. Contact the Course and Program
Development office for assistance if necessary.
15. Are there similar courses offered in other University Departments? Yes x No
If yes, list courses by Subject Code, Number and Title
PHY 406 Ethical Issues in Physics
16.
If similar courses
exist, do the departments in which they are offered support the proposed
course?
Yes x No
If
yes, attach letters of support from the affected departments. If no, attach letters from the affected
department explaining the lack of support, if available.
D. Course Requirements
17. Attach a detailed Master Course Syllabus
including:
a.
Course goals and objectives
b. Outline of the content to be
covered
c.
Student assignments including presentations, research papers, exams,
etc.
d. Method of evaluation
e.
Grading scale (if a graduate course, include graduate grading scale)
f.
Special requirements
g. Bibliography, supplemental
reading list
h. Other pertinent information.
E. Cost Analysis (Complete only if the course cannot be implemented without additional University resources. Fill in Estimated Resources for the sponsoring department(s). Attach separate estimates for other affected departments.)
Estimated
Resources: Year One Year Two Year Three
Faculty /
Staff $_________ $_________ $_________
SS&M $_________ $_________ $_________
Equipment $_________ $_________ $_________
Total $_________ $_________ $_________
F. Action of the Department/College
1. Department
Vote of department
faculty: For
__________ Against __________
Abstentions __________
(Enter
the number of votes cast in each category.)
Department Head Signature Date
2. College/Graduate
School
A. College
College Dean Signature Date
B.
Associate Dean
Signature Date
G. Approval
Associate Provost Signature Date
Course Syllabus BIOL 406: NATURE OF SCIENCE
Goal: The goal of this course is to give the student a greater appreciation for general principles underlying the nature, context, and development of science, and the structure of the scientific community.
Objectives:
By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
Compare and contrast what is meant by the phrases, “the scientific method” and “scientific inquiry.”
Critically evaluate data on the merit that it constitutes as scientific evidence.
Compare and contrast terms such as hypothesis, model, theory, and law.
Be able to recognize the characteristics of pseudoscience
Explain the relationship between the scientific and non-scientific community.
Define basic ethical principles related to science
Explain the relationship of science to other human values and endeavors
Describe major historical contributions in science and evaluate their impact on society.
Course Outline
I. What do we mean by science and what differentiates it from other fields of endeavor?
II. Inquiry and how is scientific knowledge acquired
A. How data is collected
B. The role of the hypothesis
C. When does the hypothesis become a theory
D. What is meant by a law
E. The role of modeling
III. Pseudoscience
A. What is meant by pseudoscience
B. What characteristics are commonly associated with pseudoscience
C. What is the impact of pseudoscience on society
IV. Ethics
A. Basic principles of scientific ethics
B. The importance of ethical principles to the functioning of the scientific community
C. The importance of scientific ethics to society at large
D. The relationship of science to other human values and endeavors
Student Assignments:
The following assignment is part of the NCATE assessment program and will be used each time this course is taught:
Popular press/journal article project: the student will select a popular press article (from a newspaper or weekly magazine) that reports on a recent scientific advance. The student will locate and study a journal article on which the popular press article was based. The student will write a paper that discusses basic principles related to the acquisition of scientific knowledge as modeled in the journal article and how this scientific knowledge is portrayed in the popular press.
The following assignments are typical of those that will be used when this course is taught, but details may vary from offering to offering:
Panel Discussion: Each student will participate in a panel discussion on issues related to either ethics or pseudoscience. Participating students will be responsible for identifying relevant readings and summarizing them for their classmates.
Readings: Students will have reading assignments most weeks and reading comprehension will be checked at random intervals through brief reading quizzes.
Final Essay: Students will write an essay during the final exam period.
Method of Evaluation: Students will be evaluated based on their performance on the two required essays (the popular press/journal article project and the final essay), their performance on reading quizzes, the quality of their participation in the panel discussion and the quality of their participation in general classroom discussion. A typical breakdown of proportions is
Popular press/journal article project 20%
Panel Discussion 15%
Final Essay 20%
Reading Quizzes 20%
Classroom Participation 25%
Grading Scale:
|
A: 93-100% |
A-: 90-92.9% |
B+: 87-89.9% |
B: 83-86.9% |
B-: 80-82.9% |
C+: 77-79.9% |
|
C: 73-77.9% |
C-: 70-72.9% |
D+: 67-69.9% |
D: 63-66.9% |
D-: 60-62.9% |
E: <60% |
Graduate Credit: Students wishing graduate credit for this course are expected to complete an additional assignment in which they write an essay that puts the nature and context of science in an historical perspective, using a prominent scientist from their own field as a case study. This project will be worth 25% of their final grade, with each of the above categories reduced by 5%. All essays written by graduate students for this course will be graded based on standards appropriate for graduate work, but letter grades will be assigned as above.
Bibliography
Beauchamp, Tom. L., and James F. Childress. Principles of Biomedical Ethics 4th ed. (Oxford University Press 1994).
Hatton, John and Paul B. Plouffe. Science and Its Ways of Knowing. (Prentice Hall 1997).
Langmuir, Irving. “Pathological Science, talk given in 1953 transcribed and edited by Robert N. Hall in Physics Today 42 No. 11 p. 36 (1989).
Lee, Jeffrey A. The Scientific Endeavor: A Primer on Scientific Principles and Practice (Addison, Wesley, Longman, Inc. 2000).
Resnik, David B. The Ethics of Science: An Introduction (Routledge 1998).