title: Biochemistry in an undergraduate writing-intensive first-year program: Seminar courses in drugs and bioethics.
abstract: The College of the Holy Cross offers a universal first-year program called Montserrat, in which first-year students participate in a living-learning experience anchored by a yearlong seminar course. The seminar courses are part of a thematic cluster of four to eight courses; students in the cluster live together in a common dormitory and participate in shared co-curricular events designed to engage the entire cluster in intellectual discourse related to the theme. A two-semester seminar within the "Natural World" cluster was offered using biochemical principles as the underlying content. In the first semester, students were introduced to drug design, activity and abuse via student presentations and guided readings on ethnobotany, drug laws, drug use in religion, and prescription drug costs. In the second semester, students discussed primary readings in ethics followed by case study analyses of assisted reproduction technologies, informed consent, genetic privacy, performance enhancing drugs and genetically modified organisms. Student learning outcomes were evaluated via rubrics and a College-facilitated survey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, 01610.
authors.forename: Kenneth V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Mills
mesh_terms: D001671:Biochemistry / Q000193:education*; D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D015195:Drug Design; D004493:Education; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D014956:Writing
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
keywords: biotechnology; collaborative/cooperative learning; communication/writing; curriculum; drugs/pharmaceuticals; ethics; non-major courses; student-centered learning