>If you were teaching a one term (semester or quarter) course in
NON-MAJORS biology (about 30 lectures), what biological principles would
you cover (listed in order of "importance")? In what sequence would you
discuss these principles?
************
Good Question. I suppose it is possible that most of these students would
never have had any biology classes previously (even highschool).
I would agree with Judy Dilworth's comments about making it relevant to
everyday life. I figure this should be easy since biology is really just
the study of food, sex and death!
You asked for a list, so how about:
Biological Diversity:
The best way to illustrate this was to ask the question: IF you lived on
the moon, what species would you take with you? Ask each student to make a
list of how many different species they "use" every day (foods, shelter
materials, clean air, removal of wastes etc etc), then have a look at how
many species are required to keep each of those species alive (same
criteris, food, shelter, waste disposal etc). Topics covered include: what
is a species, basic ecology, and principles such as symbiosis etc.
Genetically Modified Foods:
What are GMFs? How are they made? How many products are out there on the
shelves already? What are the different sides in the debate? What are the
risks? Topics covered include: DNA, genes, biotechnology etc and this
section can be easily tied back to the biological diversity section.
Sex:
reproduction in plants, fungi, worms, insects, etc etc to give an overview
of the wonderous variety of ways of generating offspring. Topics covered
include: parthanogenesis, Lamarkian (sp?) inheritance and evolution (if
that is legal where you live!) natural history.
Disease and Epidemiology:
SIR model of infections in a population.
Topics covered include, immunity, vaccination, bacterial or viral
virulence, AIDS, Influenza etc.
Does that help?
Greg Appleyard, PhD
Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Veterinary Pathology
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Saskatchewan
