Course : (ESC_127) Essential Topics of Human Biology
Curriculum : The course aims at introducing basic concepts of “Human Biology” in order to provide students with the essential theoretical tools for designing teaching-learning activities about the human body, and also to support them in constructing an explanatory model for the transmission of genes-traits from parents to offspring. Moreover, the course aims at familiarizing students with the New Biology by engaging them in active discussions, role playing and decision-making about genetic diseases or new therapies and the ethical issues that emerge with them.
Outline : The course is concerned with the following topics: “The world of cells”;, “How does our body get its energy?”, “How does our body coordinate its functions?”, “Genes & Heredity”. The course includes (a) lectures (presentation and discussion of the topics, worksheet-based discussions), and (b) labs (group-work with the aid of worksheets and technological tools like microscopes or computers; argumentative discourse/“role-playing” for critical examination of issues concerning genetic diseases and “new therapies”). International students can be tutored in English and assessed with written exams at the end of the semester.