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Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS NS 328: Toward a Sustainable Ocean: Conservation & Management
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: admission to the SEA Semester; sophomore standing or consent of instructor.
    Comparative and issue‐driven introduction to managing human uses and conserving coastal and ocean places and resources. Explores concepts of technology, governance, sector and ecosystem management, and marine protected areas through expert content lectures, topical seminars, and field trips.
  • CAS NS 329: Leadership in a Dynamic Environment
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: admission to the SEA Semester; sophomore standing or consent of instructor.
    How to be an effective leader while leveraging the individual strengths of a team. Uses leadership theory and case studies to understand how decisions affect outcomes. Students participate as an active member of a ship's crew, progressively assuming full leadership roles.
  • CAS NS 330: Data Communication & Visualization
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: admission to the SEA Semester; sophomore standing or consent of instructor.
    Information visualization strategies and associated software, emphasizing communication to diverse audiences. Students choose between geospatial (GIS) and qualitative data foci, develop graphics and/or multimedia products supporting research projects in concurrent courses, and compile an iterative digital portfolio.
  • CAS NS 331: Climate, Society, and the Humanities
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the SEA Semester; junior standing or consent of instructor.
    Survey of climate literature across humanities and social science disciplines. Explores interpretive and comparative approaches to understanding human-climate interactions in maritime contexts and identifies collaborative potential with the natural sciences. Requires interdisciplinary research, field journal writing, and team projects.
  • CAS NS 332: Environmental Communication
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the SEA Semester; junior standing or consent of instructor.
    Seminar focusing on communication skills development for environmental scholars. Introduces the field of environmental communication, examines environmental attitudes and behaviors, and develops a toolkit of communications strategies. Includes projects in data visualization, multi- media, and digital storytelling.
  • CAS NS 333: Directed Research Topics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the SEA Semester; sophomore standing or consent of instructor.
    Seminar exploring humanities and social sciences approaches to understanding and resolving contemporary climate-related issues. Development of research and writing skills through analyses of case studies and guided seminar exercises. Requires field data collection, research paper and presentation of results.
  • CAS NS 433: Advanced Research Topics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: enrollment in the SEA Semester; junior standing or consent of instructor.
    Advanced humanities and social science seminar focusing on contemporary climate-related issues including urban/coastal resilience, poverty and justice, clean energy, human displacement, and national security. Emphasizes case study analysis and research methods. Requires field data collection, research paper, and symposium presentation.
  • CAS NS 450: Advanced Topics in Biological Oceanography
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: admission to the SEA semester and a minimum of three lab science courses including one at the 300-level, or higher, or consent of instructor.
    In-depth treatment of a single topic in biological oceanography. Extensive review of classical and contemporary literature. Introduction and practice of current laboratory techniques. Oral presentation and research paper required. Topics may include marine plankton ecology, biodiversity, and satellite oceanography.
  • CAS NS 460: Advanced Ocean Policy Research
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: admission to the SEA semester; junior standing or consent of instructor.
    Advanced policy research focusing on a topic of current importance (may include fisheries, biodiversity, marine spatial planning, and cultural heritage). Emphasis on theoretical concepts, research methods, and communication skills. Requires critical review paper, original research, final report and presentation.
  • CAS NS 541: Concepts in Physics II: Rotation and Gravitation
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NS 540; and consent of instructor.
    For teachers. Mastery of physics concepts including uniform circular motion, rotational motion, and gravitation. In order to build pedagogical content knowledge, a historical and philosophical context is provided, and related science education research on misconceptions in learning classical mechanics is also introduced. Cannot be taken for credit by CAS and GRS students.
  • CAS NS 542: Concepts in Physics III: Fluids and Theormodynamics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NS 541; and consent of instructor.
    For teachers. Mastery of concepts including fluids and thermodynamics. Connections between microscopic and macroscopic behavior as an example of physical science models. Concepts are discussed in historical and philosophical context to build pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogy rooted in science education research. Cannot be taken for credit by CAS and GRS students.
  • CAS NS 543: Concepts in Physics IV: Electrostatics, Magnetostatics, DC circuits
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NS 542; and consent of instructor.
    For teachers. Mastery of concepts including electric charge, electric and magnetic fields, and DC circuits. These topics are placed in historical and philosophical context to build pedagogical content knowledge. Discussion of pedagogy is rooted in science education research. Cannot be taken for credit by CAS and GRS students.
  • CAS NS 544: Concepts in Physics V: Waves and Optics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS NS 543; and consent of instructor.
    For teachers. Mastery of concepts of the physics of waves and geometric optics. Concepts discussed in historical and philosophical context to build pedagogical content knowledge. Discussion of pedagogy rooted in science education research on students' misconceptions. Cannot be taken for credit by CAS and GRS students.
  • CAS PH 100: Introduction to Philosophy
    Introduces the nature of philosophical activity through careful study of major philosophical topics. Topics may include the nature of reality, knowledge, God's existence, and the significance of human life.Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Critical Thinking and Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meaning. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 110: Great Philosophers
    An introduction to philosophy through a reading of great figures in western thought. The list may include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Roussesau, Nietzsche, Russell. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 150: Introduction to Ethics
    Many of us want to lead meaningful lives. But what is it for a life to be meaningful? What makes some lives better or more meaningful than others? Can life as a whole have some significance or meaning? Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 155: Politics and Philosophy
    What is justice? What are the foundations of property rights, liberty, and equality? Are anarchism and utopianism defensible? This course is an introduction to major themes and questions in political philosophy. It includes a study of classical and modern texts, as well as contemporary political issues. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 159: Philosophy and Film
    This class provides an introduction philosophical and aesthetic issues connected with film. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 160: Reasoning and Argumentation
    A systematic study of the principles of both deductive and informal reasoning, calculated to enhance students' actual reasoning skills, with an emphasis on reasoning and argumentation in ordinary discourse. We will emphasize argumentation and criticism in ordinary life and also present formal models of reasoning designed to elicit underlying patterns and structures of reasoning and argumentation that are widely applicable. Simultaneous training in skills of argument analysis, argument pattern recognition, argument construction, and argument interpretation and creation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Critical Thinking
  • CAS PH 242: Philosophy of Human Nature
    Examines the way in which Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud undermine traditional conceptions of human nature. These thinkers teach us to question our ordinary assumptions about religion, human distinctiveness, the conscious mind, the role and status of morality, and the uplifting effects of civilization. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Critical Thinking

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