Instructions:
Part 1:
Read through the questions below. Write a paragraph, 150 words minimum, in
response to one or more of the questions below that interest you. Use D2L's spell checker or your word processor software to spell check your paragraph. (The latter will give you a word count as well.) Proofread it
yourself too, because spell checkers don't catch everything. When you are satisfied,
post your completed paragraph in the Starting Assumptions forum for this week
at the D2L discussion board.
Part 2:
Respond to the Starting Assumptions posts of at least two other students. (If
you are the first or second person to post, you will have to check back later
to complete this part of the assignment).
- Just as you spell checked and proofread your original post, you should
do the same for your responses.
- Please respond to posts with 0 responses first; once every post has at least
one response, you are free to choose any post to respond to.
- When you respond, please use the name of the student you are responding
to. That is, say "Hi Jessica" or "Hi Paul" so that you
can get used to the names of the people in class. (You can find a list of
"real" names and preferred names posted on D2L).
- What constitutes a substantive response? This means that
you have read and thought about the original post, and that after some reflection,
you are extending one or more of the thoughts in the original post or offering
an additional perspective as you might in a good conversation. It is not enough
to say simply "nice job," "I liked that," "I think you're right about XXXX," "I disagree," etc. It is OK to disagree or agree,
but the goal is to thoughtfully add something else interesting and new related
to the content of the original post. At a minimum this should be at least
50 words, and 50-100 is preferable. Check out this page for more on the topic of good and bad responses.
After you have posted your paragraph and responded to two other students,
go to Desire2Learn and complete the Gradebook
Declaration for this week's Starting Assumptions assignment. (Do not declare that you have completed these assignments until AFTER you have made your posts. Your Gradebook
Declaration is subject to the Honor Code.)
Here is the text of the Desire2Learn Gradebook Declaration:
(3 points) I have posted my spell-checked, proofread Starting Assumptions
paragraph (150 words min.) at D2L.
(2 points) I have responded to the posts of at least two other students
(1 point per response; 50-100 words for each). |
Here are the questions to get you started:
- What do you think of the evolution information presented in this video?
- Legislatures in some states, including Oklahoma, have either proposed or passed laws mandating that biology textbooks include stickers with a disclaimer about evolution. So far, such a measure has not passed in Oklahoma, and it has been found unconstitutional in states where it has passed. Click here to see a rebuttal against the idea. What do you think about
the disclaimer and/or the rebuttal?
- How much did you learn about evolution in high school?
- Do you think the evidence for evolution is excellent, good, fair, or poor?
Why do you think so?
- Can you think of any practical applications that derive from a scientific understanding of evolution?
- Do you think of evolution as primarily a theory that explains the origin of life in general, the origin of human life in particular, or the relationships among all types of organisms?
- Do you pay attention to news stories about scientific discoveries relating
to the evolution of human life? Why or why not?
- How do you think humans are related to other primates, other mammals, other
animals, and other organisms?
- Do you think that scientific methods can reveal useful information about
events that happened in the past, such as the origin of life or the evolution
of the human species?
- Should scientific discoveries about the origin and evolution of life shape peoples' understanding of spiritual or religious matters? Why or why not?
- How are science and religion different ways of knowing about the world?
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Contemporary Issues in Biology -- BIOL 1003
Mariëlle H. Hoefnagels, Ph.D. © 2004-2015.
biology1003 at OU dot edu (at = @, dot =.)
Last Updated
August 5, 2014 11:02 PM
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