  |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Making Science: The Role of Scientific Thought in Modern American CultureInstructor:Chris Young Assistant Lecturer, Masters in Liberal Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee phone: 298-9138 email: cyoung@aero.net office: by appointment, Brewed Awakenings coffee shop on Brady St. Course Requirements: You will write a one-page commentary on readings each week. This will be emailed to the instructor and two classmates by 8 p.m. on Tuesday. During one week, you will write a 2-3 page commentary, which will serve as a point of departure to lead discussion with two other classmates for that week. A midterm essay examination will include a choice of questions, which you will have one week to answer. You will determine a topic (expansion of a commentary) and write a 10- to 12-page essay, a draft of which will be due near the end of the term, allowing time for evaluation and rewriting. Alternative final projects will be considered, such as lesson plans, business plans, and action plans, provided they include substantial research and consideration of the topics of this course. Consult with the instructor to determine an appropriate scope of work. Course Grading:
Dialogue around Written Work As indicated above, you will submit your commentaries not only to the instructor but also to a few classmates. This is meant to broaden the audience for your ideas and help you reflect on the readings and your reaction to them. As an instructor, I hope this will help you to do more than look for "right" answers or try to make impressive insights for my sake. The structure of this dialogue will probably change as we move through the semester. You will also submit parts of your final essay or project to one or two classmates for comments. Schedule (Revised): Date/Week; Topics; Assigned reading to be completed before class Make a first and second choice for which panel you would like to participate on. Panel members will be determined on September 18; first panel is October 2. September 4 (Week 1) Introduction: Meanings of Science, the Role of Science, Ancient Science September 11 (Week 2) Ancient and Medieval Science Bowler, pp. xv-xvii, 1-84 Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, in course reader, pp. 1-25 Lindberg, "Medieval Science," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 60-79 Kuhn, pp. v-xii, 1-42 (recommended) Brush, "Scientists as Historians," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 214-231 (recommended) September 18 (Week 3) Scientific Revolution Bowler, pp. 84-192 Ashworth, "Natural History," in course reader, pp. 303-332 Shea, "Galileo and the Church," in course reader, pp. 113-135 Kuhn, pp. 43-135 (recommended) September 25 (Week 4) Darwinian Revolution Bowler, pp. 193-361 Darwin, On the Origin of Species, in course reader, pp. 80-130 Paul, pp. 22-39 October 2 (Week 5), Panel I Topics in 20th Century Science Bowler, pp. 379-427 Keller, "Gender and Science," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 26-38 Kevles and Geison, "Experimental Life Sciences," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 97-121. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, in course reader, pp. 13-28 Kuhn, pp. 136-210 (recommended) Richards, "History of Mathematics," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 122-135 (recommended) October 9 (Week 6), Panel II Managing Nature Bowler, pp. 361-378, 503-553 Taylor, "Making Salmon," in course reader, pp. 33-59 Mitman, "When Nature Is the Zoo," in course reader, pp. 117-143 October 16 (Week 7), Panel III Midterm examination handed out (take-home) Ecology and the Atom Bocking, "Ecosystems, Ecologists, and the Atom," in course reader, pp. 1-47 Klingle, "Plying Atomic Waters," in course reader, pp. 1-32 Hagen, An Entangled Bank, in course reader, pp. 100-121 October 23 (Week 8) Midterm examination due Ecology in Context No readings assigned October 30 (Week 9), Panel IV Mendelian Genetics and the Evolutionary Synthesis Bowler, pp. 428-502 Paul, pp. 1-39 Allen, "Naturalists and Experimentalists," in course reader, pp. 179-209 November 6 (Week 10), Panel V Eugenics and the Human Genome Project Paul, pp. 40-135 Fujimura, "Transnational Genomics," 71-92 Warner, "History of Science and the Sciences of Medicine," in Constructing Knowledge, pp. 164-193 (recommended) November 13 (Week 11), Panel VI The Discovery of DNA and the emergence of Molecular Biology Allen, Life Science, in course reader, pp. 187-228. Beatty, "Genetics in the Atomic Age," in course reader, pp. 284-324 Watson, The Double Helix, excerpts (recommended) November 20 (Week 12) Controversies: Biotechnology and Disease Kitcher, Lives to Come, in course reader, pp. 13-22, 65-86 November 27 (Week 13) Draft of final essays due Discussion of essay topics: round table December 4 (Week 14) Controversies: Pollution and Environmental Destruction Odum, Ecological Vignettes, in course reader, pp. 41-58 December 11 (Week 15)Last class. Rewrite of final essays due December 18. Controversies: Climate Change and the Future McKibben, End of Nature, in course reader, pp. xv-xxv, 3-46 Course TextsRequiredPeter Bowler, The Earth Encompassed: A History of the Environmental Sciences, (Norton, 1992). Diane Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, (Humanities, 1995). Arnold Thackray, ed., Constructing Knowledge in the History of Science, Osiris, Volume 10, (University of Chicago, 1995). LibSt 721 Course Reader (see Bibliography below) Recommended Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed., (University of Chicago, 1970; 1962). Recommended reading only. Course Reader Bibliography
|
||||||||||||||
MLS Program | Student Focused | Curriculum | courses | Admissions | Information Faculty Advisory Committee | Center for 21st Century Studies | L&S Home | UWM Home © UW-Milwaukee: Masters in Liberal Studies Program, Curtin Hall 916, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201 Send your questions and comments to the MLS director. Last Updated 09-13-02 |