Milestones of Science, What must you do in this class?

We read in order to write in this class. By writing about the natural, material, and physical reality that these authors insist envelops us, the course is designed to encourage you to express the beauty, wonder, and evocative qualities of natural existence.

Think and examine yours and other’s prejudices in a demonstrable manner that in addition to discussing the text in class, you do well all of the following.

Do always refer to your particular class syllabus for explicit details.

1) Writing for an audience in short, but formal analysis of the readings:

Response papers there are three. These are 2-3 pages maximum, with explicit text references to reflect the author’s tone, meaning and ultimate intentions. ( any selection in the study guide, on page one.)
30%

2) How well do you take notes on what you read?

I assess this by asking you to write an essay drawn from the authors concerning your world view.

Mid-term describe a body of knowledge and how you believe – based on the readings in Feynman, Kaku, Mayr, Marx and Margulis these concepts have influenced the way modern society views the world.
The goal of the assignment is for you to describe your worldview in contradistinction to these texts.

Feynman
Kaku
Mayr
Margulis
Marx
Eliade.

Six page draft essay minimally, with footnotes, or endnotes and bibliography. Due after the 7th week, or following spring break.

3) A Research paper based on term-long development of a signifiant concept.

This essay is on a subject of your choice based on books, journals and documentary research. The subject must be about Science as defined by Feynman and its relation to society, the biography of scientists, the discovery of new concepts, or the development of a body of knowledge.

The subject should be tied to one and preferably more than one of these overviews:

° Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man.
° _______________, Science and Human Values.
° Leonard Shlain, Physics and Art.
° Carl Sagan, Cosmos.
° Preston Cloud, Cosmos, Earth and Man.
° Murray Gell-Mann, The Quark and the Jaguar.
° Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers.
° Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point.
° Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth.
° Charles Darwin, On the Expression of Emotions in Animals and Man
° Stephen Hawking, The Universe in a Nutshell
° Evelyn Fox Keller, The Century of the Gene.
° Ernst Mayr, What Evolution Is.
° Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.
° James Lovelock, The Gaia Hypothesis.
° Roger Lewin,The Bones of Contention

3) Research paper

This essay is on a subject of your choice is turned in separate stages from the simpler beginning steps to the completed effort that includes a verbal summary of your thesis and arguments during the final meetings of the class.

Week Item expected minimal length

4 description of your thesis and arguments 1 page with preliminary sources -- at least one article from Scientific American.

6 what evidence will you be discussing specifically? 2 pp.

9 annotated bibliography 12 to 14 sources (see web site) at least five or six of these sources must be from pertinent journals, depending on the subject -- recent journals.

11 draft of the essay 8 – 9 pages of your writing with appropriate endnotes or fottnotes to identify the sources of your research data.

14 presented verbally in a summary of your research findings and what you learned in a five to six minute rehearsed talk.

This verbal description is done in a rehearsed four-minute presentation to the class during the last two weeks.