This course is designed and delivered to cultivate the following abilities, attributes, and perspectives which are appropriate and required for those students who study at one of the top leading comprehensive universities of science and technology in Japan.
By the completion of this course, the students will have
1) the ability to recognize and explain the nature and broadening scope of certain fields and/or disciplines in science and engineering,
2) the ability to examine the ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications/Influences) of those fields and/or disciplines and what role they should play in society and for society,
3) the attitude to seek the broad and transdisciplinary perspectives on science and engineering, and
4) the ability to develop an attitude to examine one's own field of study with a multi-dimensional framework.
This course is designed, developed, and offered jointly by the respective School and the Institute for Liberal Arts.
Science and technology are one of the sources of the affluence in modern society. Its influence on the society simultaneously becomes enormous and the resulting risks also become larger. In this class, various kinds of risks and the risk avoidance are introduced in various fields of science and technology. Lecturers in various specialized fields will talk in the class.
The aim of this course is to understand what kinds of risks exist in the various fields of science and technology, and to understand the risk avoidance.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Explain examples for risks in various kinds of scientific and technological fields
2) Explain examples for risk avoidance in various kinds of scientific and technological fields.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Society, ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications), Safety
✔ Specialist skills | ✔ Intercultural skills | ✔ Communication skills | ✔ Critical thinking skills | Practical and/or problem-solving skills |
As with all other courses in this category (400 Transdisciplinary Course), this course is offered in the "Active Learning" mode which requires students to take an active role in their own learning. Therefore, students are required to submit a summary report at the end of each session. (In case you are not able to attend a class, you should inform the instructor of your reason for absence in advance.) Class attendance is required and taken into account for grades.
Course schedule | Required learning | |
---|---|---|
Class 1 | Guidance and introduction | summary report |
Class 2 | Safety of chemical plants | summary report |
Class 3 | Safety of nuclear power system I. The concept of nuclear safety | summary report |
Class 4 | Safety of nuclear power system II. Safety of radioactive waste disposal. | summary report |
Class 5 | Aircraft safety and social systems. | summary report |
Class 6 | Chemicals and safety | summary report |
Class 7 | Science and technology and food safety | summary report |
Class 8 | History of phytotoxicity and contemporary challenges | summary report |
None required.
Course materials are posted on OCW-i and/or provided during the classes.
For the credits of this course, as with all other courses in this category (400 Transdisciplinary Course), students must submit an original paper which addresses "the nature and scope" of a given field/discipline and its "societal role." An important part of the assessment is based on the quality of the paper. The instructor will explain details of the requirements for the paper in the first class meeting.
Not required.