BIOSCIENCES TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

PHI2BTS

Not currently offered

Credit points: 15

Subject outline

The biosciences and biotechnology have come to play important roles in human lives, especially as they reach into both the psychological and social sciences. The focus of this subject is on philosophical issues that arise in the biological sciences, including the medical and health sciences, and the technologies they employ. The subject may cover 4-6 of the following topics: (1) race, science, and human nature; (2) eugenics as a project aimed at intergenerational human improvement; (2) ideas of normalcy in the biological and social sciences; (4) the Human Genome Project and its successors; (5) historical and contemporary debates over the measurement of intelligence; (6) sociobiology and evolutionary psychology; (7) health,disability, and human variation; (8) contemporary technologies that facilitate reproductive choice; (9) bioenhancement and transhumanism; (10) biological conceptions of psychiatry and psychiatric illness.

School: School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Credit points: 15

Subject Co-ordinator: Rob Wilson

Available to Study Abroad Students: Yes

Subject year level: Year Level 2 - UG

Exchange Students: Yes

Subject particulars

Subject rules

Prerequisites: N/A

Co-requisites: N/A

Incompatible subjects: N/A

Equivalent subjects: N/A

Special conditions: N/A

Graduate capabilities & intended learning outcomes

01. Acquire substantial knowledge about ways in which biological sciences embody social values and inform individual and societal decisions.

Activities:: In class and online discussion, reading logs, group work.
Related graduate capabilities and elements:: Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Discipline -Specific Knowledge and Skills(Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

02. Develop critical thinking skills that allow you to probe beneath the surface of what you read and grapple with issues concerning biology, society, and values.

Activities:: Essay writing, in class and online discussion, reading logs, group work.
Related graduate capabilities and elements:: Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Discipline -Specific Knowledge and Skills(Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

03. Recognize and identify social dimensions to biological theories, practices and technologies.

Activities:: Essay writing.
Related graduate capabilities and elements:: Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Discipline -Specific Knowledge and Skills(Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

04. Become more reflective about how science both reflects and impacts the societies we live in.

Activities:: In class and online discussion, reading logs.
Related graduate capabilities and elements:: Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills)

05. Integrate active learning strategies into your course experience such that you become a more capable self-directed learner with respect to the general themes of the course.

Activities:: Independent research for essays, engaged in class and online interactions.
Related graduate capabilities and elements:: Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Study and Learning Skills); Discipline -Specific Knowledge and Skills(Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

Subject not currently offered - Subject options not available.