Spring 2000 NSI SCRIPT: DAY 1
Bring to class:
- handouts
- boxes for "Unknown Object in a Box" exercise containing scotch tape, quarter, toilet paper, shoe, pop can, marker **NOTE** Tape the edges of the box with the quarter!
- SLA booklets
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write on board:
- journal starters
- name of course, instructor, and mentor
- introduction questions
Transparencies:
- Unknown object in a box questions.
- Survey Questions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Journal ideas:
- Quote: "Science when well digested is nothing but good sense and reason."
-- Stranislaus
-Write about your experiences with the unknown object in the box exercise. Did you discover anything interesting about how you learn and what influences the knowledge claims you make?
- Write about some of your beliefs. What are they based on? What kind of evidence would be necessary for those beliefs to change? (focus especially on things you feel strongly about, and things that are directly tied to observations about the world. Connect the more complicated process of evolution of beliefs in your daily life, to the process of belief change (beliefs about what's in the box) that you went through in the unknown object exercise.)
- www.sciencenews.org (This is an on-going journal starter. You can write reactions about your reactions to scientific studies you hear about in the news. Don't just summarize the article. Answer questions like: Is this science worth doing? What conclusions would YOU draw from the study? What additional data/information would you like to see? Also give a reference to the article you write about.)
- self-assessment and reflection questions: http://www.scienceintegration.org/reflection.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Natural Science Inquiry. The aim of this course is to get you to take a closer look at science, and to help you make connections between your life and the field of study we call science. Beneath all the complexities, science is really just a way of learning about the world. It evolved out of a recognition of the limitations that the external world places on what we can do, and a need to figure out what methods work and don't work in trying to achieve whatever goals we have. During the next 10 weeks we'll be trying to get a better handle on what science is, what methods it uses, why it's a valuable tool for society to have, and what relevance it might have for each of you.
As you may know, this is the first course in the Science in the Liberal Arts curriculm. There are booklets available outside of 170 Science Building 2 that describe the courses in the SLA program and how they fit into the University Studies general education requirements. The courses in the SLA curriculum are generally intended to give you an understanding about the methods of scientific inquiry and how to analyze and use the information that science makes available. The courses are designed to make you think about the purpose of science and how it fits into broader contexts.
Address expectations: Many introductory science courses focus on the immediate results of science. They end up being a survey of facts that may or may not mean anything to you and don't address how those facts were obtained. In this course, the focus will be on the process of doing science, and understanding how that process can help you to deal with issues and questions that come up in your life.
Students come to this course from a wide variety of backgrounds. I tried to design the course so that you wouldn't be a disadvantage if you don't know much about science and so that you won't be bored if you do know a lot about science. I didn't have a course like this in college, but I think it would have been very helpful. Teaching the course has helped me refine my ideas about science and understand how it's perceived in society in general.
The ironic thing about this course is that many of the things we'd like to teach you are things that can't be "taught" in the conventional sense. Most of the things that you learn in this course, you will learn not from listening to a lecture but by doing projects and exercises and participating in class discussions.
SYLLABUS/DETAILED CLASS INFORMATION:
The quotation on the front of the syllabus sums up the approach of this course very well, I think. Erin and I are not here to tell you what science is or how you should think about it. We're here to set up opportunities for you to think about various things and come to your own conclusions, hopefully with our guidance. Science is a process which is accessible to everyone. By the end of the term, you'll be teaching me about some things related to your project, about which you may well know more than I do.
If you look at the syllabus, you'll see a rough outline of what I think we'll be doing on a week-by-week basis. The course is divided into three parts. For the first week and a half, we'll be exploring some of the philosophical aspects of science, along with the attitudes about science that we all bring to the class from our past experiences. What is science? How does it differ from other fields that make knowledge claims? Why do we care about it? What does it do (for good or for bad) for society?
We'll spend the next couple of weeks on the second part of the course, talking about some of the techniques and methods of science. We'll work on data analysis, criticial thinking, and problem solving. The 3rd part of the course will be spent applying what you've learned about scientific thinking to a specific social problem: transit in the portland area. This will give us a chance to see how complicated knowledge claims become when they are mixed with politics and other aspects of social life. Even simple questions often don't have simple answers.
After the schedule, I've listed the components that will make up your grade for the course. Most of your grade will be based on three projects. The rest of your grade will be determined by class participation and attendance and a journal that you will be keeping throughout the quarter to record and monitor your discoveries and changes in your thinking. In general, if you come to class and do all of the assignments conscientiously, you can expect to get some sort of A or B. I don't feel I'm making the class too easy by telling you that - you still have to do it.
We will be taking attendance, with a sign-in sheet that will be passed around each class period. Because it's a process/discussion oriented class, what you get out of it will be in direct proportion to your attention to and participation in what goes on during the class meetings (part of the reason there is no text is because it's an experience-based class). Keeping track of attendance is a way of reflecting that in your grade. You can miss one day of class without it affecting your attendance grade.
I consider the journal writing to be a very important part of the course (weighted accordingly, as 20 % of grade) You should take them seriously; they're for your benefit, to help you get the most out of the course. I frequently use a journal myself as a way of doing my work, because it's a way of organizing my thoughts and reflecting on what I'm trying to do. I can figure out things that I wouldn't have without writing things down. Grading will be on the basis of the evidence that you are actively engaged in wrestling with the issues raised in the course of this class.
Your journal will give you a record of the progression of your thinking througout the course. You may see yourself going from confusion at the beginning of a project, to narrowing down the questions to pursue, to developing a convincing argument for the beliefs that you set forth. Perhaps more importantly, you'll find that your journal can be a valuable tool in helping you learn. Writing forces you to clarify and articulate your ideas, which forces you to think more deeply about the subjects that you're writing on.
Each time you turn your journal in, you should have written the equivalent of 6 single-sided handwritten pages. (You're welcome to type your journal enteries as well...I will appropriately scale the length of the journal submission I expect from you if you type or use small print.) For each class period, I will give you "journal starters" to help you think of ideas to write about. Journal starters can be quotes, questions, new stories, etc. You don't have to use all of them; in fact, you don't have to use any of them. Just make sure that what you write is related to the class in some way. I've made some suggestions in the packet that you were given about things to avoid and things that I like to see.
I'll be collecting your journals about every other week. (The collection dates are listed in the syllabus.) You can turn your journal in one class period late ONCE during the quarter. If you turn it in later than one class period, or you turn your journal in late after using your one extension, you will get a zero for that journal submission.
Other things to note: All assignments other than the journals must be turned in on time--no exceptions. If you can't make it to class that day, you should turn it in earlier or make arrangements for someone to turn the assignment in for you. (or you can e-mail it to me as an attachment or text)
Also note that although journals may be hand-written, all other assignments should be typed.
INTRODUCTIONS:
Go around the room (starting with me and Martin) giving the class the following information:
-name
-major (if you've chosen one)
-outside job or hobby or particular interest of some sort
-what comes to mind first when you hear the word "science?" (Don't evaluate or filter - just what do you automatically associate with science.)
Divide the students into groups for the following exercise. Encourage them to introduce themselves again to those in their group.
Unknown object in a box:
Goal is to try to figure out what's in the box. If you can, I'd like you to try to reach a consenus in your group. When you've reached a consensus or have decided you can't reach one, write down your best guess(es) and wait until we rotate the boxes. I will give you 5 minutes for each box, and I want your group to look at 4 boxes. While you're performing this exercise, write down successive statements that you think you can say about the object in the box, in 2 columns: 1) Properties you think describe the object (metallic, plastic, size, number of objects, etc. 2) Guesses - what is in the box?? If you make a guess, record a 1-10 scale of confidence (10 highest). Also answer the following questions, for discussion with the whole class at the end:
1. What methods do you use to try to figure out what the unknown object is?
2. How certain are you that you know what the object is? How does this level of certainty change over the course of the exercise? This activity is a model for how your beliefs about what's true can change on the basis of evidence.
3. What is the most convincing evidence for you?
4. How do you convince someone else that your guess is correct?
After every group has done this with all the boxes, we'll discuss these things together.
** Be sure to make the point that this activity is a model for all of science - everything you do in science has a parallel in this activity, and anything we know about the world is known through a process like this.
**NOTE: People tend to take the object out of the box to show their group members. Remind them not to do this! **
Comments:
Answers to 1 from past classes:
observation: fits in box
weight
sound of hitting side of box
how much it can move in the box, how fast it moves when tilted
whether there is a difference in movement in different directions (speed, amount, or sound)
process of elimination plays a big role here--point out that they tend to guess familiar objects that most household have...relate this to the fact that scientists pursue the most likely explanation first
Answers to 2:
Did anyone have the experience of being absolutely certain they knew what was in there, only to find that it was something different? Did anyone think that figuring out the object was hopeless, but then suddenly have a flash of inspiration? If you were certain, did you have trouble convincing others in your group that you were right?
Answers to 3&4:
(i) most convincing when you test yourself
(ii) majority rule tends to play a role
(iii) the more unique the sound (the more eliminated) the more certain
(iv) authority not so great: even if that authority was me!
This exercise gets at many of the things we will be working on this quarter: problem solving, testing knowledge claims, and persuading others. It also shows how your beliefs can be changed by new information: try to use this process as an analogy to how we learn and how science works in the real world. We always have limited information, have to devise experiments to figure out things without ever being able to "open the box," or "look up the answers in the book." Every answer in a science book was obtained by a process of investigation, of devising clever ways to make nature reveal some of its secrets, which is analogous to your struggles with the boxes (think about astronomy, particle physics, etc. where it's very clear that we can't see inside directly). (**Important to develop the analogy between the exercise and how science is done.**)
Survey for students to answer before leaving class:
1. name
2. major
3. do you know how to use a spreadsheet program (for graphs, etc.)?
4. do you know how to use an internet browser?
5. number the following skills from 1 (your strongest skill) to 3 (your weakest skill)
presentation skills
writing skills
mathematical skills
6. What aspect or product of science do you think has had the greatest positive influence on your life, and why?
7. What aspect or product of science has had the greatest negative influence on your life, and why?
8. Do you have any particular concerns or expectations for this course?
#
Error.class - ConstantValue Exceptions LineNumberTable SourceFile LocalVariables Code (Ljava/lang/String;)V java/lang/LinkageError java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError