Animals

Explore the amazing range and complexity of wild animal behaviour. Discover how animals learn, communicate, find food, avoid predators, and interact socially. Do you want to understand how and why animals behave the way they do, and how we test hypotheses about behaviour scientifically? This biology and life sciences [...]

This course explores animals within the context of the functional relationships that sociologists call “institutions.” We first examine the use of animals in laboratory science. We then examine the controversial transformation of animals into “livestock” and "meat." We also explore the perspectives of people committed to rejecting the construction [...]

This course explores how animals and people are situated within the web of structures and connections known as “society.” Module 1 considers some of the key symbolic roles that animals play in society by investigating the practice of “thinking with animals.” We investigate how people construct different meanings of [...]

In this course, we explore how mainstream understandings of animals and human-animal relationships have changed in recent years. Module 1 focuses on the roles of animals in human physical health and psychological well being. Module 2 explores animal selfhood, particularly in light of their inability to use spoken [...]

Mountains 101­­ is a broad and integrated overview of the mountain world. This 12-lesson course covers an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on the physical, biological, and human dimensions of mountain places in Alberta, Canada, and around the world.

This course explains the general principles of chicken behaviour and welfare, and the behavioural and physiological indicators that can be used to assess welfare in chickens kept in hobby flocks through to commercial farms. The focus is primarily on laying hens and meat chickens (broilers) although many of the [...]

Learn about the impact of infectious disease on sustainable animal-based food production by understanding the science of growth, immunity, and infection and by learning the problem-solving skills needed to advance animal health and food production through optimal management practices. In this course we will explore the effect of infectious [...]

The Origins course tracks the origin of all things – from the Big Bang to the origin of the Solar System and the Earth. The course follows the evolution of life on our planet through deep geological time to present life forms.

This course is for anyone interested in learning more about Veterinary Medicine, giving a “taster” of courses covered in the first year of a veterinary degree and an idea of what it is like to study Veterinary Medicine.