Course Title: Gen&WS 528: Science and Sexuality
What is this course about?
This course uses a critical feminist lens to teach students about how sexuality science is conducted, how different scientific approaches have pros and cons, and what science can tell us about human sexuality. Students read scientific studies about topics like gender, sexual identity, sexual desire, and orgasm, learn about different methods ranging from FMRIs to physiological assessments to qualitative interviews, and consider critiques related to these various methods. We spend a great deal of time in class discussing and debating how various scientific studies were conducted and what they can or cannot tell us about gender and sexuality.
What does innovative, active learning look like in this course?
This course pulls elements from a flipped classroom approach, which allows us to maximize discussion and peer engagement during our sessions together. Specifically, students read weekly articles and take quizzes on them on their own before coming to class to ask questions, review content, and discuss with their peers. This ensures that the class is less so about memorizing information, and more so about developing critical thinking skills in response to course content. With that said, we still do a mix of small group discussion, videos, large group discussion, and mini lectures to keep things dynamic and interesting, and to ensure that students can learn about topics through a variety of mediums. Students have commented that this approach takes the pressure off trying to absorb and memorize in class, allowing them to be more present and focus on the messages from the weekly content.
What is a favorite learning activity that you assign in this course?
One of the first assignments is for students to create a visual “fact sheet” about a sexuality topic. For this assignment, students must identify scientific articles on a sexuality topic of their choice, and then use information from their articles to build a visual poster that communicates about their topic in a compelling, feminist way. This activity teaches an important skill – that is, how to synthesize and communicate a point based on scientific information – but it feels more fun and unique since students get to play around with graphics, images, and color. Importantly though, while the visual presentation aspect of this is a part of the grade, major artistic skills are not required! Students are allowed to use tools like Canva for the aesthetic piece, which is hopefully a comfort to those who feel less artistically inclined. 🙂
Describe a recent AHA! moment with your students in this class.
I think our biggest and most consistent AHA! experience is the persistent emphasis on the idea that science is not inherently objective! It’s also much harder to come up with ways to measure certain aspects of sexuality than you might think (but that is also what makes this class fun and interesting!).
How do you hope this course will help your students beyond the semester they’re working with you?
My goal is for students to leave this class with a stronger understanding of how science works and how it shapes what we know about gender and sexuality. Science is such an important avenue for how we create and communicate knowledge, but it is often taken for granted as an objective and/or best way of knowing, which can make it hard to interrogate or question. Yet, scientific approaches all come with pros and cons, and it is essential to understand how these and other factors shape what we know about gender and sexuality. This is especially relevant in a world where gender and sexuality are frequently debated in the public sphere, and science is used to shape policies related to gender and sexuality that have very real impacts on people’s lives.