UNST / UHNR 404B: Religious, Moral, and Social Aspects of Biology—Spring Qtr 2009

CH 206; 1-3 pm, Mondays & Wednesdays

Instructors: Dr. Gary Bradley, Dr. Lee Greer, and invited guest lecturers

Phone numbers: 951-785-2011; 951-785-2101 (Office); 2512 (Lab)

E-mail: gbradley@lasierra.edu; lgreer@lasierra.edu

Course objectives

Our senior Biology capstone course provides a journey in three parts, completing your Bachelor of Science degree. Each part will be based on the peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature and books by scientists and scholars in their respective academic fields. You should be able to understand, discuss, and synthesize the following categories of information:

I. Scientific evidence of the natural history and evolution of life on earth from comparative biology, geology, paleontology, and genomics – capped by your Major Field Achievement Test (MFAT). You will have an opportunity to reflect on the data in a paper.

II. The emerging dialogue between science and religion – a synthesis of history, epistemology, philosophy, laying emphasis on current discussions, and the history of thought on science and religion from the late Medieval-Renaissance Europe, to the Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment of the mid-17^th -18^th centuries, and the expanding world of science since Darwin and into the 21^st century. You will have an opportunity to reflect on the issues in a paper.

III. Environmental ethics – the roots of our current ecological crisis and individual and societal approaches for becoming more sustainable in a time of planetary stress. You will keep up with breaking developments in the planetary environmental crisis and participate in campaigns on Internet.

Requirements

Attendance & participation

You are expected to attend all class sessions and to actively participate as biologists approaching your baccalaureate degree! The optimum success of a discussion course like depends on the involvement of every student. Records of attendance and participation in discussion will be taken in every class.

You will be required to keep up with breaking developments in the planetary environmental crisis on Ecological Internet (www.ecologicalinternet.org/), and actively participate as an informed citizen in various campaigns dealing with atmospheric-climate, ocean, forest, biodiversity, and freshwater supply issues under the various respective internet portals. E-mail documentation will be added to special Dropboxes on D2L.

Optional Service Learning

You may receive optional service learning credit for participating in these assignments, and for going for the extra step of setting up your own blogspot on My.EcoEarth.Info, which is affiliated with Ecological Internet. Then you will periodically post thoughtful pieces on your blog on current campaigns and / or your insights on the current state of our planet, and what we ethically owe to our planet and its inhabitants – our fellow voyagers on the long odyssey of this spaceship we call Earth. You will share the links to your blogspots with classmates and professors, and the world, after editing.

Reading

This is a reading and writing course. You should read the day’s assigned reading before coming to class. Assigned papers may be handed out, posted on D2L, linked from the Internet, or put on reserve in the library. We will make them available at least one week before they will be discussed.

Writing

Learning to think and to write critically is a lifelong process, and you will be asked to work hard in this course to seriously advance your skills. You will also be challenged to further develop the art of integrating, synthesizing, and interpreting what you know.

The writing required in this course will entail a major paper (5-7 pages in length exhibiting clear writing and scholarship with bibliography) and a final exam.

Bonus points for interesting new references from NCBI Pubmed or PubMed Central on the relevant topics, along with a half-page submission introduction about why the paper is relevant.

Major paper

You will submit a major paper over the course of the quarter. The purpose of this assignment:

a) To Identify and define the issues

b) To Summarize the methods and data from the scientific (or peer-reviewed academic) literature on the current status of the discipline about which you are writing.

c) To Reflect on the broad implications with specific reference to the data.

In the light of geochronology and modern biological techniques, present the

1. Evidence and interpretation of the natural history and evolution of life on Earth from paleontology,

2. Evidence and interpretation of the natural history and evolution of life on Earth from biology.

MFAT

The Major Field Achievement Test (MFAT) is required of all senior Biology majors and will be administered as part of this course. As you participate to the best of your ability on this test, remember that your score memorializes your baccalaureate degree in the scientific field of Biology.

Final Examination

A structured essay and short answer exam with questions on parts I-III of the course.

Grade weighting

Class attendance, participation, & Internet environmental involvement . . . . . . . . 33.3%

A Paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.3%

Final Exam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.3%