Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College · Courses
STS
26 courses with the subject STS, 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.
STS 100Science, Technology, and Culture3
A survey of the development and culture of science, technology, and medicine in world history. S T S 100 Science, Technology, and Culture (3) (GH)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. 'Science, Technology, and Culture' surveys the development and culture of science, technology, and medicine in world history. This course will introduce students to using the humanities, social sciences, and the arts to understand the development and uses of science, technology, and medicine in human history. The course focuses on broad trends and changes over time in their social and cultural contexts. The course is intended to address the needs of a wide range of students. For students majoring in the the arts, humanities and social sciences, the course provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between lay/popular and techno-scientific cultures. For the scientific and technically oriented student, the class exposes students to the study of technical and scientific problems from a broader cultural and historical perspective. All students will develop a knowledge of the values that have motivated and informed scientific, technological, and clinical ventures as well as an appreciation of important cultural dimensions of techno-scientific work, including the influence of religious concepts and practices, the impact of race, class, and gender, the significance of language and symbols, and the role played by local and global traditions. The course also asks students to think critically about the role of science, technology,
A survey of some of the intellectual achievements that highlight humanity's attempts to understand nature and shape the environment. Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
This course is an introduction to the central role of food and food production in all areas of human life. The social and technological bases of various food systems are examined from the hunter-gatherer to the agrarian to the modern industrial system and its discontents. The course also considers how different types of food (e.g., meat, milk, cereals, chocolate) are preserved and distributed, examining both the effects of the development of the science and technology on society and vice versa. The roles of various food components (e.g., proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins) are examined both within the foods as determinants of quality, and also in terms of human nutrition and health. Finally, various other ways food may be considered appropriate or inappropriate will be studied including scientifically based reasons (e.g., safety, taste, adulteration) and non-scientifically based reasons (e.g., ethical, legal, religious). Cross-listed with: FDSC 105 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences General Education: Health and Wellness (GHW) GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think GenEd Learning Objective: Integrative Thinking
The study and assessment of chemical developments during the First and Second World Wars will form the backbone of this course. As the course is historically focused on the period from 1914 to 1945, the students will develop a basic understanding of the significant historical events that led to the development of chemical innovations in materials, medicine, and weapons. To understand the scientific context of these developments, the students will also learn about the basics of chemistry, including recognizing the nature of the scientific process and discovery. In addition, the students will read, evaluate, and discuss primary and secondary sources to provide them with further insight into significant figures, events, and developments. These lectures, readings, and discussions (along with other assignments) will allow students to explore the ethical dimensions, the economic effects, the social consequences, and the public health impact that these scientific discoveries had on scientists, soldiers, and civilians. The students will also ascertain how many of the scientific discoveries made between 1914 and 1945 have had both beneficial applications and detrimental effects since 1945.
This course explores the history of health, illness, and medicine in western society from Ancient Egypt through the modern world. Relying on both primary and secondary sources, the course examines major developments in the understanding of health, illness, medical treatment, and medical practice in western society from Ancient Egypt to the present. The course will explore such themes as the changing status of medical practitioners, the experience of patients in different historical settings, artistic depictions of illness and healing, and the increasingly prominent role of medicine in public policy in order to better understand the links between medicine and its social, cultural, intellectual, and political contexts. Cross-listed with: HIST 124 Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
STS 151NTechnology and Society in American History3
This course examines the development of technology in the United States from the colonial period to the present, and places into a historical context the reception and influence of these technological developments on the social, economic, and political life of the United States. The technologies serving American society--past and present--range widely and include, for example, new harvesting techniques, railroads and motor vehicles, assembly-line mass production, and electricity and its multiple dependent technologies. Technologies have always influenced, and been influenced by, human societies; this course examines how technologies and Americans have interacted and influenced each other. Cross-listed with: AMST 151N, HIST 151N Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences United States Cultures (US) General Education: Humanities (GH) General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS) General Education - Integrative: Interdomain GenEd Learning Objective: Integrative Thinking GenEd Learning Objective: Key Literacies Undergraduate - The Pennsylvania State University 2026-2027 4837
/Maximum of 9 Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in-depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest. Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
STS 200Critical Issues in Science, Technology, and Society1
or STS/ Ethics and the Design of Technology PHIL 233 or STS 245 A student planning to re-enoll into the baccalaureate degree major of Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology (EMET), after graduation from the 2 EET program, must receive a grade of C or better in order to meet requirements of the EMET degree. This includes 3 credits of General Education courses: 3 credits of GH or GS. A student planning to re-enroll into the baccalaureate degree major of Electrical Engineering Technology at Penn State Harrisburg, after graduation from the 2EET program, should follow Track C. They should select MATH 140 instead of MATH 83.
Studies of global warming, energy options, and biodiversity; their interrelations as sciences and as societal issues. Bachelor of Arts: Natural Sciences Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
GA) or Technical Elective General Education (GS or 3-4 GA) or Technical Elective 17-18 17-18 Total Credits 68-70 * Course requires a grade of C or better for the major ‡ Course requires a grade of C or better for General Education # Course is an Entrance to Major requirement † Course satisfies General Education and degree requirement University Requirements and General Education Notes: US and IL are abbreviations used to designate courses that satisfy Cultural Diversity Requirements (United States and International Cultures). W, M, X, and Y are the suffixes at the end of a course number used to designate courses that satisfy University Writing Across the Curriculum requirement. General Education includes Foundations (GWS and GQ) and Knowledge Domains (GHW, GN, GA, GH, GS) requirements. Foundations courses (GWS and GQ) require a grade of 'C' or better. Advising Notes: • Technical Elective choose from: MATH 140, BISC 3, CHEM 110. • Students need one of each: GA, GH, GS, Technical Elective. Students also need either an IL-designated or US-designated course. • STS 233 will satisfy the GH requirement and is not a US/IL. Therefore, either the GA or GS course must also be designated US or IL. • Suggested Technical Electives: MATH 140 (typically offered spring and fall), BISC 3 (typically offered spring and fall), CHEM 110 (spring and fall). • Students should consult their adviser for other possible technical electives.
The objective of Globalization, Technology, and Ethics is to prepare students (especially but not limited to engineering, information sciences & technology, and business students) who are headed into the corporate, NGO (non-profit) or government sectors for the challenges and realities of working in a rapidly globalizing world. This course will encourage students to become leaders in a mobile and diverse transnational workplace and help them to become critical citizens of that world. Through team-centered projects and readings from the social sciences and humanities, students will broaden their understanding of engineering, technology, and culture and then be introduced to how one makes ethical decisions about that world. This course is designed to provide skills, theories and experiences that will help them to be respectful, diplomatic and professional while being able to successfully work with technology in multiple cultures and contexts. Students will understand the relationships and the effects on industry, economics, and the many facets of society in an interdependent global economy. These interrelationships will include the differing impacts on individual countries (winners and losers), the question of responsibilities of use or development of technologies and science (long term verses short term impacts). Students will be able to apply ethical analysis to these and many other issues that professionals face. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: ENGL 15 and CAS 100 Cross-listed with: SOC 245N
/Maximum of 12 Science, Technology, and Society foreign studies. Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction. Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
This is a required gateway course for engineering students to be considered to join the Global Engineering Fellows program. In this course, students build on their global experiences. This course will expand students' ability to articulate the value of their global experience develop intercultural competencies, foster presentation skills, and enhance global perspectives. Recommended Preparation: Students will have participated in a global experience abroad such as an approved study abroad program (embedded allowed), or an international research, internship, or service program while a Penn State student (supported by Univ
Examination of oral, scribal, print, industrial, and electronic cultures; analysis of impact of technology on communications and social structure. COMM 408 / STS 408 Cultural Foundations of Communications (3)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. COMM 408 / STS 408 traces the development of communications technologies and their impact on culture over the last 500 years. Students will examine how different tools for communicating changed the way people organized and made sense of their worlds. The course begins by looking at oral cultures and moves on to the scribal, print, industrial, electronic and post-industrial or postmodern cultures, studying the media developments that marked each of these eras. With each period and its corresponding technology students will examine how and why the new media altered not only the form of communication (the type of speech, form of writing and/or speed of information transfer), but also how such changes altered the content of knowledge (how people made sense of their lives and communities). Readings are drawn from a range of disciplinary perspectives on the issues, from history, sociology and anthropology, to philosophy, communication studies and cultural theory. The historical and theoretical knowledge provided by the course will give students a solid foundation for coming to terms with media trends in present-day society and for thinking through their possible epistemological, political and cultural impacts.The course is a communications elective for the Journalism and Telecommunications majors and the Media Studies minor. Enforced Prerequisite at Enrollment: Select 3 credits from the following: COMM 100 or COMM 110 or COMM 118 or COMM 150 or COMM 180 or COMM 251 or COMM 320 or COMM 370 Cross-listed with: COMM 408 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
WFS/FOR 430 Conservation Biology Supporting Courses and Related Areas Supporting Courses and Related Areas: Require a grade of C or better Select one 400-level course from a cluster option other than the one 3 you have chosen (field experience courses are encouraged) The introductory course offers a broad overview of a topic that relates to an environmental theme. It is designed as a preface to learn about the many disciplines and approaches used to study the environment. This is the capstone course of the minor which allows students to explore more deeply and recap their study within the minor's curriculum.
an introductory science course and a history course
STS 460Science, Technology, and Public Policy3
The all-pervasive importance of science and technology policy in modern societies and mechanisms and processes by which it is made. social and behavioral sciences Cross-listed with: PLSC 460 Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
3 credits in natural sciences or engineering, 3 credits in
STS 499Foreign Studies1-12
/Maximum of 12 Science, Technology, and Society foreign studies. Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction. Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
