Unit rationale, description and aim

The unit aims to develop students’ critical understandings of the origins, nature and roles of the sciences, their relation to philosophical and theological reflection, and the implications of the sciences for our understanding of human dignity, the integrity of creation, and the common good.  

The revolutions in scientific understanding of the last 500 years have changed how see our earthly home, from the physical centre of creation to a tiny planet suspended within an unimaginably vast universe. The biological sciences have changed the way we understand the human body, its processes, and its relation to other living things. But today’s sciences have developed in complex historical interactions with the Abrahamic faith traditions and wider social and cultural changes, in ways that are often overlooked or misunderstood, but which this unit will lead students to examine.  

Building on critical understandings of the origins of today’s sciences, students will undertake case studies concerning contemporary social and ethical challenges and opportunities connected to scientific research and technology. Responding to a world where the authority of the sciences is increasingly contested, this unit aims to prepare students to critically engage with community and contribute to ongoing debates around issues in science and technology.  

2026 10

Campus offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

UNCC300 Justice and Change in a Global World , PHIL320 Ethics, Justice and the Good Society , PHCC320 The Just Society , THCC200 Justice in the World: Catholic Social Ethics in Global Perspective , TPCC202 Conflict, Violence and Peace-making , THCC202 Sacred Land: Australian Indigenous Spiritualities and Catholic Thought , TPCC201 Ecology and Justice

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Discuss key developments in the emergence of the m...

Learning Outcome 01

Discuss key developments in the emergence of the modern natural sciences in the context of philosophical and theological implications and involvements.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC3, GC7

Analyse debates concerning contemporary social and...

Learning Outcome 02

Analyse debates concerning contemporary social and ethical challenges and opportunities relating to scientific research and technology.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC7, GC8

Assess the status of contemporary science as a set...

Learning Outcome 03

Assess the status of contemporary science as a set of social practices which command social and epistemic authority, and the public policy implications that follow.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC6, GC7

Content

Topics may include: 

  • Foundational understanding and skills in critical analysis and argumentation.
  • The development of modern scientific understandings of the universe, from geocentrism to the expanding universe.
  • The emergence of the earth and life sciences, from Eden to geological timescales and natural selection.
  • The nature of scientific inquiry and evidence-based practices, competing conceptions of the sciences, and critical challenges to the epistemic and social authority they have often commanded.
  • Science as a set of social practices; science and its impact on public debate and policy-making.
  • Historical and contemporary understandings of the relationship between faith and reason.
  • Contemporary challenges posed by and to the sciences today: case study options relating to areas such as: future energy sources; pandemics and immunisation; genetic medicine; generative artificial intelligence; media algorithms; big tech and privacy, etc. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall minimum grade of pass (50%).

The assessment strategy is designed to enable students to display achievement of all learning outcomes. 

To enhance assessment authenticity, assessment is integrated with class activities. This involves written and oral activities that assess understanding of key concepts and debates, as well as discussion with peers and the production of individual work.

Task 1 asks students to explain key developments discussed in the unit. This task enables achievement of Learning Outcome 1. The task fosters core skills which will be further developed in Tasks 2 and 3.

Task 2 invites students to develop a project which analyses key themes in the unit. The focus of this task is on enabling students to display achievement of Learning Outcomes 2 and 3.

In Task 3, students reflect on their range of learning across the unit, and assess contemporary issues relating to science in social context. Task 3 enables students to display achievement of all three learning outcomes.

Overview of assessments

Task 1: In class assessment task Requires stude...

Task 1: In class assessment task

Requires students to demonstrate understanding of key developments in the emergence of the modern natural sciences in wider context.

Weighting

20%

Learning Outcomes LO1
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC7

Task 2: Critical Analysis Project Requires studen...

Task 2: Critical Analysis Project

Requires students to critically engage with contemporary social and ethical challenges relating to science and technology.

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8

Task 3: Reflection and Application task Requires ...

Task 3: Reflection and Application task

Requires students to assess the contemporary issues relating to the practice of science in social context.  

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC6, GC7, GC8

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit will be offered as a flipped classroom, drawing on the standard 150 hours of focused learning. During standard semesters, this involves approximately an hour of canvas-delivered content, including short instructional videos on key ideas and debates, a study guide, set readings, questions, and formative assessments. Students are required to attend two-hour on-campus seminars in which the week’s study materials will be discussed with peers and instructors, and where some assessment associated with unit content will be conducted. In these seminars, a range of learning activities will take place, to develop, consolidate, extend and test knowledge, and share ideas with others. 

When delivered during summer and winter terms, the unit will blend collaborative learning and project-based learning approaches, combined with direct instruction. The collaborative learning aspect emerges most strongly through interactions in the class or online, which require students to enter into critical engagement with one other in thinking through key problems in the field. 

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Olson, Richard. Science and Religion 1450-1900: From Copernicus to Darwin. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.

Cohen, H. Floris. How Modern Science Came into the World: Four Civilizations, One 17th Century Breakthrough. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Collins, Harry.The Golem: What You Should Know about Science. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Elliott, K. A Tapestry of Values: An Introduction to Values in Science, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2017.

Kuhmar, Neelam (ed). Gender and Science: Studies across Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Harrison, Peter. The Territories of Science and Religion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2015.

Jardine, Lisa. Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution. London: Doubleday, 1999.

Saini, Angela. Superior: The Return of Race Science. USA: Fourth Estate, 2019.

Shapin, Stephen. A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

 Weinert, Friedel. Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 

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