Professor: Shearer Course format: Seminar Number of respondents: 9 Total Enrollment: 18 Class Composition: Froshs: 16 Sophs: 1 Jrs: 1 Srs: 0 Concs: 3 Non-Concs: 1 Don't Know: 5

Instructor Average: 1.94 Course Average: 1.74

“Biological Effects of Radiation” is a freshman seminar that aims to teach students about both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation and how these types of radiation affected organisms. Students enrolled in this course also studied the medicinal uses of radiation. The course requires no official prerequisite, and most students agreed that none was necessary.

Professor Shearer received largely positive reviews. Survey respondents praised his willingness to take their needs into account, saying that he let them choose at the beginning of the semester which topics they wanted to cover. Most of the reviewers praised his laid back manner, and were pleased with how passionate he was about the subject he taught. The students loved his handouts and overheads, and thought he answered their questions very effectively. Although most people enjoyed his lectures, some commented that he did have a tendency to “babble.” Since this course was a freshman seminar, a few students expected more discussion, and commented that the class was mostly taught in lecture format.

The only assessments for this course were four research papers of eight to ten pages. Most of the students thought this was a very reasonable expectation, although many advised that not procrastinating on the papers was very important. In general, class members were very pleased with the assigned readings, which they thought corresponded well with both the lectures and the paper topics.

Most of the students said that they spent three to four hours a week on the work for this class, which was very similar to the time commitment they expected. Many of the respondents advised incoming freshmen to “definitely take this class,” especially if you have an interest in radiology or medicine.

View BI/0019 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.