NSCI 360, LEGACY OF LIFE: The content material of this course covers the origins of life from the biological perspective, but the wider, integrative goal of the instructor is to stimulate creative and critical thought using examples from the science of evolution to stimulate inductive logic and students' broad understanding of the philosophy, logic and application of science to the understanding of nature (and life!). The course integrates learning from lower division natural science classes in fields such as biology, chemistry, physics, geology, evolutionary theory and math; but the class is especially notable in the extent to which it also integrates students' lower division work in the social science and humanities by incorporating creative assignments that involve visual perception, artistic creation, philosophical and logical applications, definitions of life and death, the universality of change, etc. The text and exercise Manual used in the course have been created by the instructor and are now published. The material for the class is rich and varied and appears to be challenging and appropriate to an upper division capstone course. The students take several objective exams which are carefully crafted to avoid what the instructor terms "factoid regurgitation", and appear to require that student demonstrate advanced logical and integrative skills to do well. Exercises and extra credit opportunities are especially creative and include options such as field trips. Cooperative group projects are also required. This course appears to exemplify the integrative capstone, meeting and surpassing the goal of providing students with a challenging culminating experience. The course shines; with rigor (and humor!) the instructor integrates diverse material from a variety of fields, demands critical thinking, provides integrative activities, and provides students with opportunities for creative learning, hands on projects, field experiences, and even group cooperative learning exercises and group presentations. Based on the materials submitted, the course meets the category requirements and should be recertified as a G.E course.

CATEGORY COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Content-wise, the capstones reviewed for this category represent an interesting, often intriguing set of courses which well reflect the breadth goals of general education. The effectiveness of the courses in achieving other capstone goals of building upon basic skills tends to be problematic however, mainly because of the large enrollments and general lack of class support for faculty which tends to pressure instructors to utilize objective test methods and to eliminate components that build written and oral communication skills. Based upon the materials submitted and reviewed, it is recommended that:

(a) The School Curriculum Committee address and seek to resolve the problems of support of capstones so as to enable them to meet the criteria for such courses (see Recommendation No. 4, p 14)