Learning takes place in all stages and contexts of life. Some occurs formally through K-16 schooling, while learning can also happen through informal experiences in museums, aquaria, libraries, environmental centers and parks, or via online and mobile environments. How People Learn provides an introduction to the research and science of learning, integrating theory with case studies about learning principles and evidence-based practices.

First semester of a full year course for majors in the life sciences. Introduction to the biochemical basis of living systems, cell biology, mitosis and meiosis, principles of genetics, developmental biology. Includes lecture and discussion sections. Required for biology majors. (Gen.Ed. BS)

This course will examine the dialectics of violence and governance, especially exploring the familiar idea that "states oppose violence." We will analyze conceptual elements of violence (e.g., coercion, war, terror, anarchy, physical/psychic injury) and state (e.g., law, bureaucracy, government, policing, population, economy, community) as the production of unstable categories like dis/order, ir/rationality, and il/legality. We will situate this conceptual work in the hypothesized empirical transition from "sovereign" to "post-sovereign" forms of power.

The purpose of this course is to prepare exploratory track students to achieve academic success at UMass. The curriculum will aim to orient students to the health science fields and the major options within, assist students with major exploration outside of the health sciences, create strategies for academic success, transition to campus life and learn how to effectively navigate and utilize campus resources.

This course looks at selected plays by significant 20th Century American playwrights, with attention to dramatic form, historical context, influence and innovation. Students read at least one play per week. Requirements include participation in discussion sections, papers, a midterm and final. (Gen.Ed. AL)

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

This seminar will examine whether life has a ?meaning? and how one might use college to begin pursuing it. We will explore why we ask this question in the first place; what it means to ?mean? something; what we mean by ?life? when we ask the question; how one might sensibly answer the question of life?s meaning in a constructive way; and what our answer entails for what we do in college and after. Along the way, the instructor (a long-time college teacher) will give the students tips on how to ?do? college in the most successful way possible.

We will explore evolutionary and ecological perspectives to understand how life on Earth has changed in the past hundred years and how it may continue to change as a consequence of climate change. The first third of the course focuses on the drivers of climate change and physical responses to climate change (e.g. changes in temperature & precipitation patterns, sea ice extent and sea levels). In the next third, we will focus on how life on Earth has responded to climate change and ocean acidification and what might happen in the future.