My experience with GENS4010 - Science and Religion (2 Viewers)

[seremify007]

GENS4010 Science and Religion
- interesting content but a bit biased in favour of Christians (not much info on other religions which is what I wanted to learn about)
- science content seems deep but you can pick it up very easily with a bit of Googling and Wiki
- subject rewards independent research especially if you document this in the journal which is assessed (20%)
- online participation in discussions tends to be swamped by people who post way too D&M intimate details but the tutors are quite fair in assessing and participating (30%)
- take home midsem is piss easy if you did the readings and keep Google/Wikipedia open (20%)
- major assignment however is way too vague and difficult to figure out whether you are on the right track or not... i did very poorly in this section even though i researched and borrowed books for this (very rare for a commerce student to go to this effort!) and the lecturers only help was "if u are finding it difficult choose another topic" with no guidance whatsoever (30%)
- all online

 

[rinc]

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in here as I found this post super helpful in choosing the course:

Overall it as a pretty interesting course, but there is DEFINITELY a huge focus on the christian perspective. I also felt that some of the lectures were slightly skewed in favour of Christian views but that might just be me.

It's quite easy to get good marks in this subject but it does require work - the forum posts get really demanding as there are two lectures per week and you're expected to make at least one decent length post per lecture PLUS separate posts in reply to what others have said. It can get really overwhelming if you let it build up so you do need to stay on the ball with it. If you skip more than 20% of posts you fail the subject and you can't do them all at the end.

Like the OP said, take home exams are really easy and this semester they've split it into two separate 15% exams. They're based directly on lecture material and there are no references required. I managed to get hds on both without trying very hard.

I also found the essay (25%) to be harder than it first seemed. It's basically exactly like what OP said, there's not very much guidance at all and the topics are pretty ambiguous. I'd recommend doing preliminary research on the topic before deciding to write your essay on it as I got stuck halfway and decided to change topics which was crappy. As long as you don't underestimate the essay and leave yourself a decent amount of time you should be fine.

One word of advice - do not leave the journal to the last minute...worst decision of my life and it was the biggest pain trying to get a whole semesters worth of entries done in 24 hours.

Overall, I'd recommend this subject as an elective. They mark pretty easily and I've managed to get better than expected marks so far (still waiting on one more mark back). Just keep in mind that it does require really regular posting which is a pain but if you're OK with that then the rest is pretty breezy.

 

[Darth_Duplicity]

These are awesome reviews! If anybody else could throw one in that'd be awesome because I'm at a crossroads! (Especially a breakdown of assessment marks. Is there any group work?)

 

[seremify007]

I still remember being very disappointed with the results from the essay given everything up to that point had been very smooth sailing and good marks.

When I did this there was no group work, but the lecturer encouraged group discussions/etc even on assignment topics... not that it'll help much given he gives zero feedback on the essay! I really can't emphasise how frustrating this was because the lecturer provides absolutely no context as to what he is expecting, and in doing so, this detracts from the value of this course.

Thinking back to my overall sentiments- this subject really offered me minimal in terms of appreciation for the topic at hand, and felt more like a compliance-driven exercise (which I guess can happen with a general education course). The forced discussion groups and journals does make it a bit more interactive but the lecturer is very hands off, and does nothing to improve the perception that general education courses are a bit of a joke with rehashed content and and an easy way for the uni to earn money.

If you have time to do a proper subject with contact hours (i.e. real face time), pick any other general education course as you might actually enjoy it and get a sense of "that was worth it". Otherwise if you just want a subject which doesn't really require much effort on your part (a parallel with the lecturer's recurring contributions) then this could be perfect for you. I got a lot more value from my Aviation gened

Again I'd also emphasise that the content is very rehashed and bland, and is very much from a Christian perspective. This may or may not be to your interest but as noted above (and I guess it's interesting that this is being taught by the science faculty), it is misleading if you think you might gain a deeper appreciation of other religions from studying this course.

EDIT: When I say effort, I'm referring to actual study/preparation. You'll still need to set time aside on a regular basis to 'contribute' to the group discussions and write something in your journal. I was inspired by the teachings of religion in my high school which drew parallels to The Simpsons and other pop culture... so that's what I wrote about in my journal

 

[seremify007]

Since someone PM'd me asking me i) what the journal is; ii) whether quizzes are done at home; and iii) is there a final.

The journal is literally you write something each week on how you've thought about the content and applied it to... something. Modern kids might better liken this concept to a blog.

No final exam- just a major essay (which is BS because the lecturer gives absolutely zero guidance on what he expects).

In my time the quiz (or midsem) was done at home on your own PC but it may have changed since then.

 

[D94]

GENS4010 Science and Religion

Maybe there should be a caveat, that is, you did this course over 5 years ago. It could have changed. I know the Astronomy course has changed over that time, so it's possible that Science and Religion has been changed as well, whether it be how they marked, the types of assessments, weightings etc.

 

[kalstar]

Interesting.

 

[seremify007]

Maybe there should be a caveat, that is, you did this course over 5 years ago. It could have changed. I know the Astronomy course has changed over that time, so it's possible that Science and Religion has been changed as well, whether it be how they marked, the types of assessments, weightings etc.

That's very true. From what I can tell from more recent students, the structure has not changed significantly in terms of journals, quiz/midsem (broken into two now) and major essay but you're right, the lecturer may have changed. In my time it was Prof Robert Stening.

That being said, gen eds are not typically where UNSW has been known to invest resources in updating. Regardless though, I'll try to moderate myself by simply stating that my experiences were based on a long time ago and I'm probably just bitter that I was HD-ing everything and then got slammed in the major essay.

 

[seremify007]

I thought I'd google GENS4010 Science and Religion for kicks and funnily enough, various student journals have popped up... all with abrupt stops once it was due for submission

Here are some if you're curious what the GENS4010 journal could look like. I personally did mine in Word.

http://gens4010-mzw.tumblr.com/
http://catdang.wordpress.com/tag/gens4010/
http://seungjooahn.blogspot.co.nz/2007/11/gens4010-journal-entries-note.html
http://gen4010.blogspot.co.nz/

I dare say that it seems those guys got a lot more out of the course than I did (or they could've just made their journal look solid to improve their marks too?).