Samantha Singh '14, presents her novel hypothesis on the evolution of rabies yesterday during a poster fair at the Holyoke Center. The new General Education class, The Evolution of Medicine, will compile all the students' corresponding papers into a journal of evolutionary medicine.

The General Education Office in the Holyoke Center was abuzz with chatter yesterday as members of Science of Living Systems 21: “Evolutionary Medicine,” a class that applies Darwin’s methods to understand illness, presented their “disease report” final projects.

Students displayed their “novel hypotheses”—original interpretations based on research on diseases such as myopia, rabies, and phenylketonuria—on colorful posters hung throughout the room.

“I am terrifically impressed with the enthusiasm and knowledge of the students,” said Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology Peter Ellison, who co-teaches the course with Associate Professor Charles L. Nunn.

Science of Living Systems 21—which is being taught for the first time this semester—is among a number of Gen Ed courses that are replacing finals with nontraditional final projects.

Creative Gen Ed assignments such as the “disease report” final project “allow [students] to internalize things for themselves in a way that some of the more traditional approaches might not,” according to Director of General Education Stephanie H. Kenen.

Kenen added that the Gen Ed program was designed to give faculty the flexibility to explore different approaches to teaching and assessment.

“There are certain trends in education toward active learning and learning-by-doing,” she said. “What we’re really trying to do is provide an experimental space to see what else works.”

Ellison began developing the course out of a seminar. Once Nunn joined the faculty, Ellison said he saw the potential for bringing an evolutionary approach to medicine to a wider audience.

“Evolutionary medicine has been developing for twenty years,” Ellison said. “I’ve been professionally active in trying to promote evolutionary thinking.”

Students said they enjoyed the class.

“This class makes us think outside the box,” said Angela Liu ’12.

In their presentations, students were allowed to think creatively, while maintaining academic rigor.

Liu’s presentation on myopia focused on her novel hypothesis.

“Night lighting elevates dopamine, eventually leading to dopamine insensitivity, which causes eyeball growth,” she said.

Looking around the conference room, Mihir J. Chaudhary ’12 said he admired the work of his classmates.

“The most interesting parts are the original hypotheses they come up with.”

—Staff writer Rebecca Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu