Science class at Ohio State encourages discussion about hope

Science class at Ohio State encourages discussion about hope

Students learn evolutionary benefits of nonscientific beliefs

The Biology of Hope and Belief is a general education (GE) course at The Ohio State University. GE classes serve a vital role at the university by helping undergraduate students develop skills in communication, cultural awareness and critical analysis.

In the case of the Biology of Hope and Belief, instructor Megan Meuti, associate professor of entomology, wants students to understand what science is and how it works.

"[I want them to learn] the kinds of questions that science can answer," she said. "And the kinds of questions that science cannot answer."

Meuti has taught the class since 2020. She describes herself as both a scientist and a Christian, a fact that positioned her well to lead these discussions. Her predecessor, Susan Fisher, is similarly credentialed. Fisher started the class more than a decade ago after seeing just how many students rejected the idea of evolution because of their religious backgrounds.

"Susan developed this course so she could ask questions about the human capacity for hope and belief," Meuti said. "Did it evolve with us and make us successful as a species? We're teaching evolution in a way that affirms the importance of hope and faith."

But how does a person research something like hope? Neuroscience, said Meuti.

"We discuss what hopelessness and depression look like in the brain," she said, "and how that is tied to levels of specific neurotransmitters that are released in your brain."

People with a hopeful brain tend to live longer than those with a hopeless one, Meuti said, which allows those humans a greater chance to "win at evolution" through survival and reproduction.

"The hopeful individuals in a population that are surviving long enough to make babies, over time, are passing those traits along to the larger population," she said.

Meuti and her students discuss topics like love and heartbreak as well.

"I'll ask them, 'How do you feel about the idea that all of these complex emotions we have can be broken down into chemicals and activities in your brain?'" she said. "Some students are comfortable with saying it's all chemicals. Others think that's too reductive."

Conversations about beliefs can be difficult to navigate. Meuti takes care to create a comfortable environment for students.

"On the first day of class, I tell them where I stand," she said. "I tell them I'm a Christian. I tell them I'm an evolutionary biologist and that I see both science and religion as important ways for me to understand and make sense of my world. But I also tell them that each of them, and their perspectives, are welcome."

A new component of the course is an online lab. Students perform linear regressions to uncover correlations between religious beliefs and acceptance of evolution, observe animals to see if they exhibit signs of hope, and track their own biometric data to see how meditation and spending time in nature affects their heartrate and stress level.

Many of Meuti's students are nonscience majors and some expressed anxiety about performing data analysis. In the end, they all succeeded, she said.

"I'm really proud of the students," she said. "They are such good scientists."

And that is something Meuti wants her students to understand from day one.

"This is a science class," she said. "We primarily focus on topics from a scientific point of view. … I don't get into 'Is evolution real?' It is real. There is no debate among the scientific community."

A popular assignment is what's known as a Socratic teaching interview, where students interview a friend through a series of guided questions. The goal is to learn what the interviewee knows about a topic - evolution in this case.

"At the end, the person who has been interviewed is so impressed with what the student in the class has learned and really enjoyed the conversation," she said.

While the assigned conversation is short, only 5 to 10 minutes, Meuti said they often lead to longer discussions.

"Some students say, 'Oh, this resulted in a two-hour-long conversation with my mom, my roommate, whomever," she said. "That's great. That's what you want learning to do!"

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