To make discover some outstanding aspects of the projections in the field of biology obtained during the course of the year preceding the course.
To confront the messages relayed by the media with scientific reality.
This course is varied and will present in a few hours the media and scientific aspects of a given subject.
Training of a work of group, of the drafting of a scientific document, of an article of popularization intended to hang journalists with a scientific press conference, of the oral presentation for a scientific talk.
This course is a prerequisite for SBIOB304 "Bachelor thesis" in bloc 3.
Objectives:
To be able to identify in the written press or audio, international main road or, a burning subject of the news in Biology.
To treat in a scientific way. What implies a library search and the presentation of the media and scientific aspects by group.
General objectives: to place the student vis-a-vis a major scientific projection (BC) or current problems in biology (BE) having had an echo in the media. The student will have to develop his critical spirit vis-a-vis the media ads/debates on knowledge base scientists.
Course:
At the time of the first meeting of course, the teachers will present the objectives of the course as well as the practical aspects/methods. They will also ask the students to form quickly (at the latest for the following course) of the groups (3 to 4 students according to the size of the class).
Each teacher will choose 1-2 topics to be discussed in 6-8 hours. These topics must have been the object of a media debate and will have to be based on solid scientific bases. Thus, it could be presented a recent discovery in molecular biology concerning to cancer, the AIDS, etc, or an event of company which calls on scientific data like an international conference on climate warming, etc Practically, the first form applies better to partim BC and the second with the partim BE, which will make it possible to have a beautiful complementarity.
At the time of course I, a demonstration aiming at the library search will be proposed to the students.
BE: the teacher will make a choice of press articles, video documentaries, of radio podcast, general public Web sites “” and will present the problems and the debate to the students. Then, it will choose a small number of pointed scientific articles which will make it possible to clarify certain points discussed in the media. Lastly, the teacher will approach various matters of biology in keeping with this debate, and will establish the link with other courses. The documents will be provided to the students at the beginning of the course and it will be asked to them to read them (to listen or look at) before the meetings concerned.
The first topic approached will relate to the attacks of sharks in the island of Réunion. A strong controversy exists between the various actors (stakeholders) on the need for protecting the sharks (especially bulldogs and tigers) or rather for exterminating them. A controversy also exists on the reasons of the high number of attacks this year and on the responsibilities. Many false ideas circulate on the sharks. Concepts of animal physiology, ethology, biology of the conservation and ecology could be approached: sensors, osmoregulation, behavior of hunting, displacement of populations, radio operator alignment, etc
BC: according to the same principle the teacher will make a choice of press articles, video documentaries, of radio podcast, general public Web sites “” and will present the problems and the debate to the students. Then, it will choose a small number of pointed scientific articles which will make it possible to clarify certain points discussed in the media. Lastly, the teacher will approach various matters of biology in keeping with this debate, and will establish the link with other courses. The documents will be provided to the students at the beginning of the course and it will be asked to them to read them (to listen or look at) before the meetings concerned.
The students will have to form groups of 3 to 4 students and to choose a topic to be treated. The choice will be done on the basis of two criterion: debate/national or international media echo and scientific relevance. A list of possible information sources will be distributed by the teachers.
The students will have to return a work writes made up of two parts: a page intended for the press general public (very popularized) and 3-4 pages of pointed scientific explanations written starting from the bibliographical resources searched on the covered issue. The students must collect and analyze scientific information and media in order to complete this written work. This one will be corrected for the first time by the teachers in the course of year for then arriving at a final version returned before the oral examination.
In session, the students will orally present their work (by group) to the whole of the students. Each group will have a total of 30 min including a short discussion.
The note will be given on the basis of model already used in Holland (University of Wageningen). The teachers give a full number of points ranging between 0 and 80 (if group of 4) to each group. The group members must then meet in order to distribute these points so as to make them correspond to the level (quantity and quality) of individually provided work.
They will have to return these notes to the teachers (who will validate the distribution) while being based on a short justification of the distribution of the points between the group members.
| Training | Study programme | Block | Credits | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor in Biology | Standard | 0 | 3 | |
| Bachelor in Biology | Standard | 2 | 3 |