The Human Biology program is designed around a core sequence of two interdisciplinary 4-credit courses and a 3-credit senior capstone course. Students also take required courses in a variety of disciplines to gain expertise in the diverse aspects of human biology, and they select courses in a single area of concentration that allow for more in-depth study in a chosen area of interest. Each area of concentration includes courses from both the life science perspective and the historical, social, arts, and humanities perspectives.
Program Design
Human Biology Learning Goals
Coursework in the Human Biology program is designed to meet the following 7 learning goals:
- Scientific reasoning
- Use the scientific method to answer a question related to human biology.
- Evaluate others’ research and interpretation of results.
- Connect scientific findings to relevant public issues or problems.
- Knowledge of human biological processes
- Demonstrate knowledge of basic human anatomy and physiological
- Demonstrate knowledge of evolutionary theory.
- Provide examples of how evolutionary processes have contributed to human biology and human biological variation.
- Interdisciplinarity and synthesis
- Show how the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities identify, define and address problems related to human biology differently.
- Demonstrate an ability to combine different modes of inquiry.
- Evaluate the benefits and limitations of different disciplinary approaches to knowledge.
- Collaborative problem solving
- Work together with others to form a strategy to address a human biological problem or research a question in human biology.
- Give useful feedback to others.
- Communication and writing
- Demonstrate knowledge of a topic in human biology within the context of what is already known.
- Present evidence and arguments from the scientific literature and articulate research clearly in written and oral form to a non-specialist audience.
- Ethical reasoning
- Identify what ethical issues are raised by a particular problem.
- Identify the implications of the ethical positions you take.
- Use evidence-based arguments to advocate for particular positions.
- Civic engagement
- Identify the role of science in public discourse and policy.
- Exhibit social responsibility and active citizenship by using knowledge and skills to direct scientific inquiry towards the public good.