'Star Trek' captivates college students

[S0V13T]

auck uses characters and plot lines from the classic TV show "Star Trek" to teach Biology 101 to non-science majors at Brenau University.

 

After all, this is a group that probably cares as much about science as Capt. Kirk does an attack from an enemy vessel.

 

Many are just passing through, getting their science requirement before they graduate and boldly go to other careers.

 

Still, Bauck would like students to do well in her class, and even come away with a greater interest in science.

 

"If a student sees an instructor is enthusiastic about the topic, hopefully some of that will rub off," she said.

 

Bauck said she had been thinking of ways to better connect with students when she decided on "Star Trek." The show's scientific and medical references are huge and often relevant today, hitting on such topics as DNA and genetic engineering.

 

"Also, (the show) is a bit of an icon," she said. "Everybody knows who Captain Kirk is."

 

Bauck wants one thing known about herself. "I'm not a 'Trekkie.' I have never been to a convention," she said.

 

But to pull off her teaching device, she immersed herself in "Star Trek" literature and Internet sites. She bought videotapes off the online marketplace eBay.

 

Each of her lectures features a clip from the TV show, which ran for three years in the late 1960s, was revived through movies a decade later, and then spun off several TV series.

 

"If (the students) are sleeping, they wake up and are good for the rest of the lecture," Bauck said.

 

She ties the clip into the lesson of the day, with such topics as "Did Vulcans Really Descend from Romulans?" (an introduction to evolution), "What to Do When the Tricorder Fails" (scientific investigations) and "The Molecular Transporter -- Is it Really Safe?" (macromolecules).

 

Bauck offered a special treat to her class on Oct. 30, the day before Halloween. Her class syllabus announces: "Come to class as the alien biological entity of your choice. Prizes for best pseudopods, membranes and spicules."

 

She sees a special benefit of her instruction before students of Brenau Women's College.

 

Star Trek shows "women in science and in leadership roles," Bauck said. "Women can succeed in science and biology."

 

Rochelle Rackley, like many students in her class, would like to live long and prosper in a field other than science, but she admits that Bauck has kept their attention.

 

"It has helped me gain an interest in science," said Rackley, a business management major.

 

Special education major Jessica Hensley said, "Dr. Bauck is good. She has shown a ("Star Trek") clip on any science lesson you can do."

 

Classes don't always go as smoothly as Bauck would like, however. She said that in those moments, she wishes she could be like one of the "Star Trek" characters longing for home when they say "Beam me up, Scotty."

 

Article

[Tenebrae]

You could just have linked the article - complete with pictures of fugly students.

 

I suppose it's a good technique... Not using Voyager though. That could cost lives.

[Guest c4evap]

Ah hahahaha. Mr. Magoo...you've done it again ;)

 

VOYAGER RULES!

 

c4 :)

[GorunNova]

in HELL! XD

 

... sorry, couldn't resist that. ^^

 

Anyways, anything that can prod the curiosity of people who really should be curious without external help is good. ^^

[Tenebrae]

Whether Voyager is a good show or not is a matter of opinion.

 

I'd venture that it uses bad science is a fact. Not that I'd hold up the rest of Trek as a shining beacon... but there you go.

[Soval]

I myself am captivated about star trek. We pretty much live with appliances that were popularized in star trek, diskettes, touch-screen controls, even rudimentary tricorders (100 times the size of TNG tricorders, oh well).

 

Voyager really made technology look great and completely normal for people to use. TNG was getting there but not quite as there as voyager.