Science Course Descriptions

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The gerbils that spin the wheels of the Internet are on vacation, and we’re unable to post our science course descriptions on our website! Dang gerbils.
But fear not, the remaining science course descriptions are posted here for your reading pleasure. For the rest of the course descriptions, see our website.
1033:MV and 1033:MV1 with LaTisha Hammond
Biology
Fulfills: CCAS: Natural/Physical Science with Lab; GWSB: Science; SEAS: Elective; ESIA: Science
Biofuels, GMO foods, food allergies, gene therapy, honeybees, coral reef health. At first glance this may be a seemingly random string of topics, but a common thread throughout them all is biology, and all require some understanding of biological concepts to understand their implications and make informed decisions about them. In this course we will explore biological concepts through the lens of contemporary issues in biology as they relate to society and everyday life. This course will serve as an introduction to the fundamentals of biology and the nature of science. Topics to be covered include cells and molecules, genetics, physiology, ecology and evolution as they relate to the more complex and nuanced biological issues of disease, food sources, organism interactions, sustainability, and climate change, to name a few. Lab exercises will introduce biological techniques for studying these topics. Students will engage in the process of science in an effort to increase their scientific literacy. Students will be expected to take an active role in the class, where we will explore these topics through lecture, discussion, debate, experimentation, data analysis, writing, and group projects.
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1033:MV2 with Carly Jordan
Science in the media: Investigating claims about your health
Fulfills: CCAS: Natural/Physical Science with Lab; GWSB: Science; SEAS: Elective; ESIA: Science; equivalent to Bio 1005
Every day we hear all sorts of claims about how to live a healthy life. From what to eat to whether or not to get a vaccine or take a certain drug, we are constantly bombarded with advice about how to live our lives. Who do you listen to? How do you know if the claims you hear are true? In this course, you will develop science literacy and critical thinking skills necessary to make sense of the information you encounter every day. You will learn quantitative skills and basic statistics that will help you interpret data. The major project in this course will be to find a claim and investigate its validity. You will determine the legitimacy of its makers, learn where to find primary sources to support or refute the claim, propose additional studies to help clarify confusing information, and create a dissemination piece to share your understanding with your peers. In this course, we will analyze serious medical claims and silly urban legends, but we will do it all using sound logic and the scientific method. At the end of the semester, you will be armed with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about your health.
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1033:MV3 with J. Houston Miller
Capital Climate Initiative
Fulfills: CCAS: Natural/Physical Science with Lab; GWSB: Science; SEAS: Elective; ESIA: Science
This course will be a continuation of an effort begun in Fall 2011 through the UHP to bring climate change awareness to the GW campus by deploying greenhouse gas sensors on the GW campuses and displaying this information visually at the sensors, at kiosks around campus, and on the internet (http://realclimategw.org). Students will develop hands-on experience with NDIR sensor technology (look it up!), microcontrollers, web design, and programming, and will also be expected to write extensively for the web page setting a context for our measurements. We will also work collaboratively with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center who is partnered with GW on the deployment of a world-wide network of greenhouse gas sensors using laser heterodyne radiometry (Whew! Better look that up, too!). Although this is nominally a continuation of an on-going effort, students will be required to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to all aspects of the project; an approach that should lead to both more robust technology and enhanced visibility for our efforts.
Leave your self-doubt and techno-phobia at home. You will learn that you can not only do all of the above, but you will probably have a pretty good time doing it.