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Does science as interactive conversation work? Can one trust brains to be curious, critical, synthetic, imaginary - and hence productive - individually and collectively?

• As a student interested in the sciences, I find my focus often geared towards looking for reasonable, rational, logistical answers to posed questions. That’s often what biology and scientific research aims to do, at least from what I have experienced. Furthermore, my previous courses in biology and psychology have often focused on the molecular and genetic aspects of whatever topic being taught. This course had quite a different spin ... incorporated the discussion that I have found more prevalent in my non-science courses while generally keeping it focused to a particular NBS-related topic ... personally difficult at times, but also rewarding. People definitely brought up things I had never considered before, and the weekly topics allowed me to learn about a number of subjects I had never given intense thought to previously


• my experience in this seminar was an interesting contrast to my other science classes ... frustrated with the lack of primary scientific literature brought up in our discussions ... do feel that the discussions that we did have were valuable ... the discussions were insightful and definitely forced me to think about things in ways that I probably wouldn't have


• I'm used to the idea that progress in science happens as the result of findings from a series of experiments and studies based on testable hypotheses. I think that we took a totally different approach in our seminar and it definitely required me to step outside of my comfort zone ... promoted my "mental diversity" by approaching the various topics in a novel way ... it had never occurred to me that I could think about science topics (especially from the "hard sciences" like neurobiology and neuroscience) in the same manner that I've thought about sociology and philosophy topics


• In an academic discipline I naively assumed to be completely cut and dry, quantitative, this course has opened my eyes even more to the way science works.


• This seminar has demonstrated to me the power and importance of interdisciplinary study. Bringing diverse minds together allows for deep, creative insights to be made.


• I have often (if not always) seen science as firm and exact and never took the time to question what I was being presented. This seminar has let me question conclusions of ‘hard’ science research while adding to my knowledge on a variety of topics ... I am sure that this course, and how it has made me think as an individual, will stick with me through the rest of my career in science.


• Taking this seminar, I was able to research, learn and discuss things that have always been of interest to me but were never really covered in any class in depth. We would always mention love, pain, psychotherapy, and psychosomatics, but never in such a way that stretches the brain to its full capacity the way this seminar has.


• I have been thinking more and more about whether there really is no place for anecdotes in science ... just because sometime is not true for a huge number of people, that doesn’t mean that what we learn from that individual’s experience or perspective is meaningless to science ... discussion-based format of this seminar really helped me to step back and think about what I am learning


• This class has had a surprisingly profound influence on how I receive and how I digest what I learn in my science classes ... it reaffirmed why it's so important to me to be open-minded about what and how I learn.


• The course ... has engaged the class to come to new and novel conclusions. The course has introduced me to a new way of thinking about science and questioning the facts.


• this senior seminar has been fundamentally different than any other science course I’ve taken in ways that are very important to me as a student ... challenged what’s typically thought of as “a good/appropriate/standard science classroom” ... I value ... an appreciation of how intertwined (inseparable?) culture (sociology, anthropology, philosophy) is in scientific endeavors.

It sure looks like it. Thanks all.