4 courses with the subject SCPP BC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
SCPP BC3334SCIENCE, STATE POWER, ETHICS4.00
Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 10 students. A comparative study of science in the service of the State in the U.S., the former Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany during pivotal periods through the first half of the 20th century. Topics to be covered include the political and moral consequences of policies based upon advances in the natural sciences making possible the development of TNT, nerve gas, uranium fission and hydrogen fusion atomic bombs. Considers the tensions involved in balancing scientific imperatives, patriotic commitment to the nation-state, and universal moral principles and tensions faced by Robert Oppenheimer, Andrei Sakharov, Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Selected readings include: Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen, Hitler's Uranium Club by Jeremy Bernstein, Brecht's Galileo, John McPhee's The Curve of Binding Energy, Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Subject
- SCPP BC
- Credits (min)
- 4
- Credits (max)
- 4
- Credit unit
- points
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026
- Source
- catalog.barnard.edu
SCPP BC3336GENETICS AND SOCIETY4.00
An exploration of the growing knowledge and technological advances in genetics, with a focus on human genetics, using scientific, popular and artistic sources. The course will cover areas such as genetic testing, personalized medicine, ancestry analysis, genome editing with CRISPR-Cas9, stem cells and cloning. It will involve an examination of scientific sources, portrayals in popular culture and discussions of some of the ethical implications and social/political impacts
- Subject
- SCPP BC
- Credits (min)
- 4
- Credits (max)
- 4
- Credit unit
- points
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026
- Source
- catalog.barnard.edu
SCPP BC3338Science-based evidence in policymaking4.00
In all societies, public policies are developed to solve social problems such as extreme poverty, inequality, basic sanitation, health and basic care, family planning, food security, mental health, abuse of illegal substances, education and protection of vulnerable groups. How can we ensure that these public policies are based on solid evidence, which would guarantee the greatest probability of effectiveness? And how do we plan and adapt the implementation of these policies to different realities, respecting cultural and historical differences? In order to achieve this, it is useful, if not necessary, to be acquainted with scientific thinking and the accumulation and use of evidence. It is also necessary to understand our own limitations and cognitive biases that interfere in the decision-making process, as well as understand the political and social context where decisions need to be made. This course aims to provide students with the tools necessary to assess public policies critically and rationally, as well as to evaluate different types of scientific evidence and understand how and where it is appropriate to include scientific evidence in building effective public policy
- Subject
- SCPP BC
- Credits (min)
- 4
- Credits (max)
- 4
- Credit unit
- points
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026
- Source
- catalog.barnard.edu
Source: Barnard College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
