What is a “life” when it’s written down? How does memory inform the present? Why are memoirs so popular? This course will address these questions and others, considering the relationship between biography, autobiography, and memoir and between personal and social themes. We will closely examine some recent memoirs: Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life, Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, Edwidge Danticat’s Brother, I’m Dying, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel, and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. Students will write two brief papers: a critical essay and an experiment in memoir.
As a “Sampling,” this class offers 6 units, with a strong emphasis on close reading, group discussion, focused writing, and research and presentation skills.

In this course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state, teachers will learn how to intentionally connect students, families, and community knowledge and practices to scientific concepts. Making these connections visible is critical for effective and equitable science learning experiences.Together, teachers will delve into strategies that encourage students to see themselves as active participants in the natural world, fostering empathy and a sense of responsibility towards the environment. Educators will learn how to shift students’ perspectives from being apart from nature to being an integral part of it. Teachers will learn how to facilitate wondering conversations that support student curiosity and sensemaking.

This is module 1 of the Beyond Classroom Walls professional learing course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state.In this course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state, teachers will learn how to intentionally connect students, families, and community knowledge and practices to scientific concepts. Making these connections visible is critical for effective and equitable science learning experiences. 

This is module 2 of the Beyond Classroom Walls professional learing course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state.In this course, teachers will learn how to intentionally connect students, families, and community knowledge and practices to scientific concepts. Making these connections visible is critical for effective and equitable science learning experiences.

This is module 3 of the Beyond Classroom Walls professional learing course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state.In this course, teachers will learn how to intentionally connect students, families, and community knowledge and practices to scientific concepts. Making these connections visible is critical for effective and equitable science learning experiences.

This is module 4 of the Beyond Classroom Walls professional learing course from Puget Sound Educational Service District in Washington state.In this course, teachers will learn how to intentionally connect students, families, and community knowledge and practices to scientific concepts. Making these connections visible is critical for effective and equitable science learning experiences.

If you’re a coastal engineer, ecologist or planner, then this is the course for you. You already know that engineering and ecological principles are not enough to realize nature-friendly solutions in practice. You need people on your side!

In this course you will learn how to build a relevant coalition of stakeholders to support the design and implementation of ecosystem-based hydraulic infrastructures. After learning basic stakeholder mapping and game theory techniques, you will apply Social Design Principles to a Building with Nature ecosystem-based design case. This will equip you to identify promising collaborative arrangements for your engineering or planning practice.

The course builds on the previous Building with Nature MOOC, which explored the use of natural materials and ecological processes in achieving effective and sustainable hydraulic infrastructure designs, distilling Engineering and Ecological Design Principles. In this course, the missing element of Social Design Principles are developed and taught.

You’ll learn from renowned Dutch engineers and international environmental scientists, who work at the technical- governance interface. Iconic examples such as the Maasvlakte II expansion to Rotterdam Harbor and the Delfland Sand Engine Mega-nourishment serve as study material. The challenges in designing and implementing these nature-friendly hydraulic infrastructures are explored by the eminent professors who were responsible for their genesis.

Join us in becoming one of the new generation of engineers, ecologists and planners who see the Building with Nature integrated design approach as critical to hydraulic engineering, nature and society.

This open short course is offered through Oregon State University (OSU) Open Oregon State. The learning modules in this short course are open, self-study learning modules with no live instructor, facilitator, or enrollment requirements, as these self-paced modules are made publicly visible (student data will remain private) in Canvas. Modules include mental health and well-being, purpose(career) well-being, mindset, personal strengths, and mindfulness meditation

This course is an introduction to major books from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Particular attention has been given to literary techniques, issues resulting from translation from the original Hebrew and Greek, and the different historical periods that produced and are reflected in the Bible. Investigation of the Bible as influence in later narrative, philosophic, and artistic traditions.

While big data infiltrates all walks of life, most firms have not changed sufficiently to meet the challenges that come with it. In this course, you will learn how to develop a big data strategy, transform your business model and your organization.

This course will enable professionals to take their organization and their own career to the next level, regardless of their background and position.

Professionals will learn how to be in charge of big data instead of being subject to it. In particular, they will become familiar with tools to:

assess their current situation regarding potential big data-induced changes of a disruptive nature,
identify their options for successfully integrating big data in their strategy, business model and organization, or if not possible, how to exit quickly with as little loss as possible, and
strengthen their own position and that of their organization in our digitalized knowledge economy
The course will build on the concepts of product life cycles, the business model canvas, organizational theory and digitalized management jobs (such as Chief Digital Officer or Chief Informatics Officer) to help you find the best way to deal with and benefit from big data induced changes.

This course explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic, and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. It uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. It includes lectures by leading practitioners. The assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

This course is offered for graduate students who are interested in the interdisciplinary study of bio-inspired structures. The intent is to introduce students to newly inspired modern advanced structures and their applications. It aims to link traditional advanced composites to bio-inspired structures and to discuss their generic properties. A link between materials design, strength and structural behavior at different levels (material, element, structural and system levels) is made. For each level, various concepts will be introduced. The importance of structural, dynamic, thermodynamic and kinetic theories related to such processing is highlighted. The pedagogy is based on active learning and a balance of guest lectures and hands-on activities.

Biomechatronics is a contraction of biomechanics and mechatronics. In this course the function and coordination of the human motion apparatus is the central focus, and the design of assistive devices for the support of the function of the motion apparatus.

This quick tour provides a brief introduction to EMBL-EBI’s resource of mathematical models of biological/biomedical systems.

By the end of the course you will be able to:
Identify how mathematical models are used in investigating the mechanism underlying biological systems and why do we need them.
Explore the content, features, functionality and use of BioModels
Determine where to find out more about BioModels Database

BioNook is Whitehead Institute’s online biology resource, offering exciting learning enrichment for students, parents and teachers. Find videos, podcasts and stories on Whitehead Institute Science, as well as virtual workshop opportunities through BioNook’s After School Science Club, and ideas for nature-based activities.
Explore free materials on biology and research—from deep explorations of how science is done, to stories following the lives of scientists, to suggestions for fun outside activities and hands-on citizen science projects.

This quick tour provides a brief introduction to BioSamples data resource, the EMBL-EBI resource that stores and supplies descriptions and metadata about biological samples.

By the end of the course you will be able to:
Describe the role of BioSamples
Navigate the BioSamples website
Describe where to find out more about BioSamples

Patterns of diversity, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Emphasis is on the Tree of Life and how its members are distributed and interact. Partial Course.

Have you ever asked what “biobased” means or wondered about the key aspects in developing and commercializing biobased products? This course will answer those questions and more; highlighting the opportunities, hurdles, and driving forces of the bioeconomy.

Today’s industries face enormous global challenges when it comes to the fossil-based economy. Fossil resources are no longer a desirable feedstock for many products and governments’ climate goals put various limitations to its usage. Moreover, consumer perception has become an increasingly important factor. With biobased products as an alternative to the fossil-based economy, the bioeconomy can provide viable solutions to these challenges.

The course describes the different types of biomass, the methods of refinery and typical conversion technologies used for biobased products. You’ll also engage in a study of the practical and real-life examples emerging in the market: biopolymers, bioenergy, bioflavours, and biosurfactants.

The course has been developed by a team of experts from seven different institutions and universities in three different countries, all sharing their personal perspectives on the opportunities and challenges faced by the biobased industry. The three top-ranked institutions Delft University of Technology, RWTH Aachen University, and Wageningen University & Research offer additional, more advanced courses to continue your learning journey:

Industrial Biotechnology: a more advanced course that digs deeper into engineering aspects of bio-based products.
MicroMasters Chemistry and Technology for Sustainability: Help drive the transition from fossil sources to renewable energy ones and engineer a biobased future.
Sustainable Development: The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Introduction to sustainable development and its relation to the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.

This course focuses on the interaction of chemical engineering, biochemistry, and microbiology. Mathematical representations of microbial systems are featured among lecture topics. Kinetics of growth, death, and metabolism are also covered. Continuous fermentation, agitation, mass transfer, and scale-up in fermentation systems, and enzyme technology round out the subject material.

The course, which spans two thirds of a semester, provides students with a research-inspired laboratory experience that introduces standard biochemical techniques in the context of investigating a current and exciting research topic, acquired resistance to the cancer drug Gleevec. Techniques include protein expression, purification, and gel analysis, PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, kinase activity assays, and protein structure viewing.
This class is part of the new laboratory curriculum in the MIT Department of Chemistry. Undergraduate Research-Inspired Experimental Chemistry Alternatives (URIECA) introduces students to cutting edge research topics in a modular format.
Acknowledgments
Development of this course was funded through an HHMI Professors grant to Professor Catherine L. Drennan.