Structural Proposal for the Course CIBI 4105: Aerobiology or the Ecology of the Atmosphere, Impact Observed on Natural Science Students

Abstract

The CIBI 4105 Seminar, as indicated in the course syllabus, has variable content, and was created as an option so that students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences could meet the General Education requirements. In these seminars, current biological topics that give rise to controversies and debates of scientific, technological, social, ethical, and humanistic relevance are discussed in the national and global context. In the different modalities of this seminar, connections are established between the biological topics discussed with other disciplines of knowledge, facilitating student participation, and promoting interdisciplinarity. This publication aims to present the structure of the course CIBI4105 Aerobiology or the Ecology of the Atmosphere and to communicate the qualitative results observed when implementing this discussion topic. Methodologically, for the curricular design of the course, the base syllabus was reviewed, the experience of other teachers (who guide the course but develop other topics) was considered, the general objectives were tempered with the specific objectives (based on the study of aerobiology); controversial topics were detected; The thematic units were designed, and the evaluation instruments were selected. The results presented are preliminary and constitute the first phase of a larger project, which will seek to evaluate the quantitative impact of this seminar on Natural Sciences students. It was determined that the course CIBI4105 Aerobiology or the Ecology of the Atmosphere had promoted the development of investigative skills through the use of digital tools to search for scientific information and has improved oral and written communication skills through the presentation of scientific articles in class and the student's presentation at the end-of-course Symposium; has established the importance of teamwork as a strategy that facilitates the investigative process and finally, has insisted on seeing science as a process in constant construction where the last word has not yet been written. In this way, they are fulfilling the Faculty of General Studies mission, which is oriented towards the comprehensive training of the student, interdisciplinary teaching and research, and the integration of knowledge and artistic creation. Ambitions that are undoubtedly fulfilled with the development of this seminar.