FYSEM-UA 732 Nature vs Nurture: The Neurobiology of Individuality, with Professor Margarita Kaplow
How much of what makes you you is inherent, and how much is a product of your experiences? And how much of it is down to that interaction between your genes and your environment, and how they affect each other? Prof. Margarita Kaplow has always been fascinated by these questions, and as a geneticist she knows too well how complicated the relationship between nature and nurture really is.
In FYSEM-UA 732 Nature vs Nurture: The Neurobiology of Individuality, Prof. Kaplow wants her students to take a critical approach to this tension between genetics and environment. As Prof. Kaplow puts it, “Fascinating discoveries define science”, and those discoveries come through the curiosity of researchers. It is this curiosity that Prof. Kaplow seeks to stimulate, by tackling important scientific questions that have resonance outside the classroom.
The main objectives of this course are to read, analyze, discuss - and dissect - academic and scientific papers, and to assess the strengths,weaknesses, and limitations of the various perspectives. Students work together in groups to evaluate case studies and propose explanations for and solutions to the many topics explored, and write short analytical papers on how heredity and environment interact on various issues.
Prof. Kaplow has also long been interested in the relevance of science beyond the classroom, and the important impacts it can have on government and society. In this seminar, students explore and discuss how science is portrayed in the media, and how that demonstrates just how critical the work done in the lab is. In nurturing the next generation of scientists, these critical thinking skills and broad perspectives are more important than ever.
