However, science majors may not take these courses even if offered. Extremely rare are courses in academic science departments designed to promote understanding of science-society interactions, particularly as taught from a biological perspective. By providing educational resources, including, for example, the syllabi and bibliographies used by other educators, we can help promote increased awareness and understanding of social concerns within academic departments of science. Third, as ecological scientists and educators we are well-suited to provide the kind of information clearinghouse that will be of value to other ecological scientists and educators. We understand the sciences and technologies, and know which kinds of resources will be particularly useful for colleagues in our fields.
Ecologists are concerned about science education.
In this course we examined important periods in biological science, and examined some of the major social, political, religious, and cultural occurrences leading to and resulting from the events of the day. Insight into why we have submitted this proposal comes from one class session we held jointly with a similarly-focused humanities class. Even more interesting than the intended nature vs. nurture debate was the interaction between the biologists and the humanities students. Despite the scientific evidence, many of them simply did not believe these theories, or simply did not feel that they were of the slightest importance to their worlds. One humanities student made the point that in the third world nation that she was studying, the theory of evolution is not real, simply because it is of no consequence to the people who live there.