Why should I take this course at KSU?

Depending on the college and how much you did (or didn't) study, you might indeed not have to study as much and you might even get a better grade by taking BIOL198 elsewhere. But you probably wouldn't learn as much biology as you will learn in BIOL198 at KSU. As mentioned elsewhere in this FAQ, the studio method is a better way to learn science so that you retain the knowledge later in life. This is very important for Biology and other Life Science majors, of course. Instructors of higher level Biology courses report that students who take BIOL198 at KSU do better in upper level Biology courses than those who take BIOL198 at community colleges. But, even those who are non-majors can benefit in several ways:

• Many of the current hot-topic political issues have to do with Biology (climate change, evolution, gene manipulation, loss of biodiversity, human population growth), which you need to understand in order to know whom to vote for.
• The spread of emerging diseases and understanding how they are transmitted and how they work inside the body can be important for how you care for yourself and your family.
• The more you know about your own body, the more you can understand what a doctor tells you so you can make better decisions.
• Understanding how organisms interact on the planet can help you understand how humans affect the environment and how those effects can feedback to cause problems for humans (like you and your family).
• Also, understanding the scientific process can help you decide what products to buy based on claims in their advertising (Do they have data to back up personal testimony? Do they have a large, diverse sample size?)

A non-biology related reason is that you learn how to think about things and how to understand concepts rather than simply memorizing facts. This skill can help you in many other courses, as well as your day-to-day life.