Assignments for the class consist of weekly written responses to the readings, and two papers.
This page includes examples of student work.
Reading Responses
Reading responses guide (PDF)
Assignment files.| WEEKS | READING RESPONSES |
|---|
| The legacy of the scientific revolution |
| 1 | No assignment |
| Enlightenment science |
| 2 | The culture of experiment (PDF) |
| 3 | A new language of science (PDF) |
| The nineteenth century: organism and mechanism |
| 4 | Science and life (PDF) |
| 5 | Science, technology, and the human body (PDF) |
| Evolution |
| 6 | Science and religion (PDF) |
| 7 | Midterm exam |
| Fin-de-siècle and the crisis of objectivity |
| 8 | Psychoanalysis and society (PDF) |
| 9 | Interpreting relativity (PDF) |
| Science and war |
| 10 | Physics and war (PDF) |
| 11 | Cold war science (PDF) |
| Genetics and society |
| 12 | Eugenics and social control (PDF) |
| 13 | Engineering life (PDF) |
| Science in the 21st century |
| 14 | No assignment |
Papers
The following sample papers are presented courtesy of the students and used with permission.
Paper 1
Assigment: analyze and contextualize a primary source (PDF)
Exemplary student papers:
- Hanselman, Jonathon. "Hermann von Helmholtz: Making and Promoting an Understanding of Energy Conservation" (PDF)
- Semenkovich, Nick. "Tesla's Prescience." (PDF)
Paper 2
Assignment: compare two different cultural interpretations of the same scientific theory, concept, or principle (PDF)
Exemplary student papers:
- McGraw-Herdeg, Michael. "China's Eugenics Law: Necessary Evil, Or Just Evil?" (PDF)