- The document describes a science course called SCIE113 taken by first-year students at UBC Vancouver. - It is a small seminar-style course that meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes, with all sections coming together on Thursdays for guest speakers. - Key themes of the course include the nature of science, scientific argumentation and evidence, and science and society. - The course has a writing intensive component including in-class essays and a term paper.

1. Romy Friedman, Grace Yi,
and Joanne Fox
romy.friedman@gmail.com grace.yi1122@gmail.com
joanne@msl.ubc.ca

2. Format
• Small group seminar (24-26 students per section)
• 50 min sessions
• Mon, Wed and Fri with all sections together on Thursdays for speakers
Themes
• Nature of Science
• Scientific Argumentation & Evidence
• Science & Society
Writing
• Writing intensive course
• In-class essays
• Term paper (argumentative essay)

3. From what perspective
did you come to the
course?
What did you learn?

4. How was this teaching &
learning experience
unique for you?
Can you give us a
specific example?

5. How do/will you
apply what you
learned in SCIE113?

8. Simon Peacock, Ian Cavers, Rob DeWreede, Paul Harrison, Administrative &
Course Support from Dean’s Office & Faculty of Science at UBC Vancouver
Teaching Assistants: James Ferguson, Romy Friedmann, Leah Lim, Jane Maxwell,
Jenny McCune, Ashley Welsh, Jody Wright
Faculty: Jim Berger, Greg Bole, Rob DeWreede, Joanne Fox, Erin Gaynor, Steven
Hallam, Holger Hoos, Ed Knorr, Anka Lekhi, David Ng, Dinesh Pai, Simon
Peacock, Lacey Samuels, Nike Vatsal, Chris Waltham, Will Welch
Instructional Support: Gülnur Birol, Alice Cassidy, Joanne Fox, Andrea Han
First-year students from across the Faculty of Science at UBC Vancouver who
enrolled in SCIE113 in 2011-2012.

9. I feel like in SCIE113 I definitely participate more and my professor seems a
lot more approachable especially because she also introduces us to other
activities happening on campus and it just sounds like she is really
interested in our learning and she invited us to her office hours several
times and she makes it sound like it’s ok to ask questions whereas in maybe
in another course you feel maybe intimidated because there are so many
people …
[At the beginning of the course] I had a negative attitude towards science
because it was considered "the most right" but now, I look deeper into how
science works in relation to society, globalization, and its systematic
approach in the pursuit of better understanding of the world, my respect
towards it grew.

10. Students’ Perceived Learning Gains
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Academic Writing Skills
Argumentation Skills
Teamwork Skills
Specific Writing Skills
# of Responses
Student’s perceptions of SKILLS they gained as a result of SCIE113.