Lab Science Course Explanation
Our thought behind the lab science requirement, as with the other course requirements in the Honors Program, is that it helps assure us that students in the Honors Program are well-rounded students. Currently, we require our students to take one four-hour lab science course. Honors Program students will take what is essentially a majors and minors course in either chemistry (CHEM 1411 or CHEM 1412) or biology (BIO 1480). The thought behind this class requirement is that this is definitely an honors experience for our Honors Program students.Most non-science students would normally take one of the non-science major laboratory classes that are typically very large classes filled with various types of students. Rather than place additional strain on the professors that teach these courses by asking them to develop an additional honors section of these courses, we decided that Honors Program students would just take a majors and minors section of the previously mentioned courses (CHEM 1411, CHEM 1412 or BIO 1480). The professors who teach the sections of these courses are educational leaders in their department and therefore students are exposed to an excellent educational experience. Some students have interpreted this as us just choosing to make them take a more difficult course. This choice, however, was based on two important issues: our desire to provide an honors-quality education in a laboratory science course and the needs of the departments that are involved.
Honors Program biology students that take BIO 1480 will be required to do an enriched assignment during the course since this is a class that they would normally take as a biology major. Students receive a different experience in both the lecture and lab section of the honors CHEM 1411 and CHEM 1412 courses so no additional requirements are placed on chemistry or biochemistry majors who take these courses. This assures us that all students that take an Honors Program laboratory course will actually receive an honors experience.
Finally, since these lab science courses are freshman courses, we cannot guarantee that they will be as small as our other Honors Program courses. Departmental needs, number of faculty concurrently teaching regular sections of these courses and the unpredictable nature of freshman enrollment places a severe limitation on our ability to forecast class sizes for these three honors courses.