2022-2023 Catalog and Student Handbook 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog and Student Handbook [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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BIOL 120 - Plants and People


Credits: 3
Semesters Offered: Fall and Spring
Campus/Sites Offered: Online
Offering Note: May not be offered on a regular basis.


Description
An introduction for non-biology majors to the social, cultural, and economic role of useful and harmful plants and plant products in modern society. Consideration is given to the origin, history and human value of selected plants, especially those used for food, medicine and industrial raw materials, or in religious rites.

Student Learning Outcomes
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific process and its importance to botanical investigation.
  2. Explain the philosophy and methods of plant classification and nomenclature.
  3. Describe the fundamental morphology and life histories of the major groups of seedless and seed-bearing vascular plants.
  4. Conduct a literature search and make an oral presentation of the findings.
  5. Demonstrate the knowledge of the ways in which select local desert plants were utilized by indigenous peoples.
  6. Appreciate the fundamental role of plants for all life on earth, including a basic understanding of photosynthesis and the ecological services that plants provide.
  7. Understand the cultural significance of man’s changing relationship with plants, including: hunter-gatherer cultures, domestication of plants and the development of agricultural cultures, large-scale agriculture and the attendant demographic shift from an agrarian lifestyle to a modern, urban technological culture, and the development of gene technology and its possible applications in the future.
  8. Understand the importance and history of plants in industry, including the major plants used in the food, pharmaceutical, and beverage industries.
  9. Become acquainted with the religious and intoxicant uses of plants and their effect on human cultures.

Prerequisite: None
Corequisite: None
Graded: Letter Grade



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