Positives: The content was interesting and eye-opening and delivered relatively well. Tutorials were engaging and well-run, and Martin, the tutor, was responsive to student concerns and questions. Negatives: The subject coordinator did not respond to a single one of my emails and wasn't present during his stated office hours. If you have any questions about assignments or need an extension, you are completely helpless. The assignment instructions were also uploaded later than stated; we were effectively given two-and-a-half weeks to complete an assignment worth 3000 words. The instructions for assignments were WAY too hand-holdy compared to other arts subjects. The coordinator effectively plans out your essay for you, telling you exactly how you need to respond to a topic with an entire page of instructions per topic. Overall, I would not recommend this subject given how disorganised it felt and the convoluted and confusing assignments. Save yourself the stress and pick a better-run subject.

This was a very interesting and thought-provoking subject; the content was a bit difficult to get into in the first few weeks, but stick with it and it all comes together cohesively at the end. It helps you think more critically and comprehensively about science through a sociological lens, and applying this understanding to actual scientific controversies about things like pandemic outbreaks and climate change. The tutorials were well-conducted and allowed for great discussions with peers, as there were always engaging activities to look forward to. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the organisation when it came to the final assessment. It covers over half of the entire subject mark (60%) and while we were promised the instructions for this assessment would be released in Week 1, and later delayed to Weeks 9 and 10, it ultimately got released just before Week 12 which gave us very little time to consider and process the assessment. It was very difficult to get ahold of the coordinator about this as well. We were promised a drop-in session to talk about the assessment topics and gain further clarification, but this was never enacted by the coordinator. I still recommend this class, but be wary of having to do things last-minute and experiencing poor communication.

This subject was hard but I loved it. It really taught me to look at the world differently. Needs attention and things to be explained in different ways to understand but if you put in the effort it is ok.