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Learning Goals for Psych 419: Behavioral Studies of Zoo Animals

Renee Ha

Course goals: Psychology 419 is a course in the behavioral studies of zoo animals, research design and scientific writing. The goals of this course are:
  1. 1. To give you the opportunity to apply your knowledge of experimental design and behavior. By letting you actually use what you know in designing, conducting, and reporting on a fairly major project, we hope that you will
    (a)gain an appreciation for what you have learned about animal behavior,
    (b)get experience with, and gain an understanding of what it takes to carry through on a research project from beginning to end, and
    (c) get a better understanding of data interpretation and summarization.
  2. To give you a basic understanding of the role of zoological parks and aquariums in conservation and research, the history of zoos, and housing and enrichment for zoo animal species.
  3. To give you practice writing. You will be asked to write a scientific proposal and a poster presentation, and you will have writing homework assignments. You will interpret your data in relation to your hypothesis and summarize it so others can understand it. Being able to make others understand your ideas is one of the most important goals in science, and in almost every job.

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