以食品問題為媒介之生命科學通識教育改進

Improving Teaching of Life Sciences Via the Food Issues in General Eduction

大學通識教育研究顯示食品相關的問題是日常生活中很重要的科技與社會（Science/Technology/Society，STS）議題。本研究即以食品問題為媒介闡釋通識「生命科學導論」，內容分五單元：（1）介紹生命的起源、演化–從甚麼是食品談起，（2）介紹生物所生活的環境生態–食物與環境，（3）介紹生物的構成、代謝與防禦–食品與健康，（4）介紹生命科學與社會，從添加物、輻射處理、毒玉米、糖茶酒等談起，（5）介紹最新生物科技與社會，從基因改造作物與食品談新生物科技的影響等。我們建立了完整的教學網站，有線上教材，輔以大量插圖、動畫和剪報等材料，並設置了師生線上討論區，學期中有熱烈的討論。為落實建構式的STS學習，本計畫由三位教學助理協助分組討論，學生同時組成小組，訂定探索的主題，在教師和教學助理輔助下進行，於學期末進行成果報告。學生們分別針對肥胖、基因改造食品、士林夜市小吃攤販、優酪乳、有機食品、及東吳學生飲用飲料習慣等完成了深入的調查與分析報告。本計畫成功地透過教學助理的協助將社會相關之議題導入討論課與學生自我探索中，增強互動性，獲得學生高度的回應，值得其他自然科學通識教學之參考。

Food associated problems are important Science/Technology/Society (STS) issues in general education. In this study, food issues were embedded into the teaching of Introduction to Life Sciences. Text of this course contained five parts: (1) origin of life and evolution after the introduction of different food sources, (2) ecology via the food production and processing environments, (3) chemical, cellular and physiological aspects via food and health, (4) life sciences and society via food additives, irradiation treatment, mycotoxins, tea and wine industry related issues, (5) modern biotechnology and society via genetically modified organisms. The website of this course was equipped with bulletin board and plenty of multimedia materials. Discussion sections were installed with the aid of teaching assistants who also assisted the execution of student research projects. Judging from the quality of the student reports and the evaluations by the students, measures adopted in this study successfully improved the teaching of life sciences in general education.