Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:55-2:50 PM, Stolkin Auditorium, Physics Building
Monday 3:00-4:00 PM or 4:00-5:00 PM
(B113, B126, & B129W, all in Physics Bldg. basement; and
room 115 on ground floor)
Regina Jones - Secretary
Office: 113 Physics Building
Tel.: x1915
E-mail: jones@suhep.phy.syr.edu
Location: 115 Physics Building
Office hours: posted outside undergraduate physics office
Prof. Edward Lipson - Professor and Associate Chair, Department
of Physics
Offices: 201-D & 305 Physics Building
Tel.: x2577/9107
E-mail: edlipson@suvm.syr.edu
Office hours: Wednesday 3:00-4:00 PM and by appointment
We live in a technological age in which society depends heavily on scientific knowledge, discovery, and invention. Moreover, we are fortunate-for the most part-to be living in an age with a steady stream of major scientific discoveries, many of which lead to practical applications, notably in the areas of materials science and molecular biology.
Most Americans are woefully uninformed about scientific and technological advances, which not only affect our material well-being but also ought to be a part of our culture. Scientific (and technological) illiteracy has become a major concern in the United States, particularly in connection with industrial competitiveness in the international marketplace. A major part of the problem is that the state of pre-college science and mathematics education in the United States is not on par with that in most other major industrialized nations. The U.S. government-in particular the National Science Foundation-has begun in recent years to provide substantial resources for improving science education. A number of initiatives are under way at Syracuse University in this area.
PHY105/106, Science for the 21st Century, is an innovative survey course to introduce non-science majors to important topics and issues in science. The purpose of this course is to promote scientific literacy, to reawaken your interest in science, to present issues in science that you will eventually encounter, and to remove any fear of science and replace it with wonder. One of our goals is to make you adept at and interested in seeking out information on the latest scientific discoveries and issues of special concern to society. We also want to help you develop your skills in critical thinking, so that you can be wary of pseudoscience lore (occasionally outright fraud) that masquerades as science. This is your chance to update your knowledge of science so that you can be an effective employee, an intelligent citizen, and a literate person.
PHY105/106 is structured around a number of concepts and principles that serve as a framework for many of the sciences. We will try our utmost to present these concepts in ways that are stimulating. Often, we will be discussing topics for which there is no clear solution, in contrast with science courses you have previously encountered. Try not to be uncomfortable with this-we think it is a good idea.
Much of the course will be organized around fundamental themes, some of which may be applicable to more than one of the respective scientific areas. In the Fall 1994 semester, the topics covered in PHY105 included a) scientific literacy, b) mirror and time symmetry, c) light, color, and vision, and d) search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In the Spring 1995 semester, the topics to be covered include a) energy and time-symmetry, b) pseudoscience vs. scientific method, c) intelligent machines, and d) evolution.
The interaction of science and society will be emphasized, through issues in science and technology; through selected readings in science fiction; and through the contrast of science with pseudoscience. Numeracy (mathematical literacy) will be addressed through computations necessary to the sciences. They will be taught via step-by-step techniques to minimize your difficulties with the mathematics.
The intended result of this course is that you should become- and remain-continually curious about science and be prepared to understand scientific issues. We hope that PHY105/106 will also motivate you to enroll in traditional introductory science courses in the departments of biology, chemistry, geology, and physics.
In PHY105/106, you will be given access to tools for the Information Superhighway (National Information Infrastructure), primarily using the international computer network called "The Internet." You'll use this not only for E-mail (see below), but also to search and obtain information on topics relevant to this course, particularly for your projects. Among the principle tools are Mosaic, Netscape, Gopher, and Usenet, which offer powerful user-friendly access to vast information resources. In addition, many of the laboratory activities will have computer components associated with them, for example custom programs to simulate the experiments you will be doing. We believe that the experience that you gain with this technology will be of great benefit to you in the future.
Science of the future is best presented by those who are creating it. Accordingly, PHY105/106 will include some of our best researchers/teachers as guest lecturers. Lecturers with special expertise will be brought in from the science departments (especially) and from neighboring institutions. We also hope to invite an occasional philosopher or historian of science. Typically, you will be asked to write a paragraph about the key points of each lecture as an assignment.
The course will include classroom demonstrations. Since science is driven by the excitement of discovery, the course will include handson experiments and activities, including those which you can perform outside of the classroom and laboratory. In addition, we will be using modern instructional technologies, including computer-enhanced lectures.
There will be one laboratory/recitation section per week, run by your TA. We will try to allow you to switch sections, so that you can work with your friends on laboratories and on term projects. Some laboratory assignments will be take-home, and some will be done in a university laboratory.
PHY105/106 will include extensive discussions, as well as reading and report writing. In addition, we will allow time for brief student presentations and for formal debates on controversial issues. A separate document will guide you into the popular scientific literature and science news resources.
Science Matters (SM) by Hazen and Trefil will be the primary reference text for the course. Science Explained (SE) will be used to provide additional information on many topics, and also provides excellent illustrations. We hope that it will serve you as a "coffee table" book in the future. Note the interesting cross referencing system in this book-we also encourage you to browse through this book. You should also use SE to help you understand any material in SM that you find difficult. You can find the topics easily in the index. See the book list at the end of this document for further information on these and other relevant books.
We will be providing you with copies of selected interdisciplinary scientific reading materials at no cost to you. We welcome your constructive criticism and advice concerning the readings we give you, as well as on other aspects of the course.
We believe that most of the selected readings are at a level you should be able to follow. In class, we will explain the material, and develop and extend the concepts. We urge you to come to class with questions that have arisen during your readings-as well as any relevant ideas you may wish to raise for discussion. In case you have questions or problems you feel may not be of interest to the rest of the class, you should feel free to meet with any of the instructors during office hours or by appointment.
Such class participation-based not only on the readings but also on scientific issues that you read and hear about from the media and elsewhere-is essential for this course. Please come to class prepared, so we can maintain this as a lively and engaging learning experience for all of us.
Don't panic if you have difficulty understanding some of the materials you read for PHY105/106. We're aware that some of the material is written at a moderate level. As practicing scientists, we have to deal with this problem regularly when we read scientific articles that are outside-or sometimes even inside-our own area of specialization Science Matters,. It is valuable experience for you to read advanced material even if it is not fully understandable to you.
To help you extend your vocabulary, we are asking you to maintain your own personal glossary of unfamiliar technical terms. Some of these terms will be highlighted in various ways in the questions, key points, and modules. As you read materials for PHY105/106, keep an ongoing list of unfamiliar words as you come across them. If you are unable to find them defined or explained in the textbooks, then try to find definitions in a standard dictionary or in the introductory science textbooks on reserve for PHY105/106 in the Physics Library (except for the Earth Science book, which is on reserve in the Geology Library; see the list of books below). Another place you may wish to look for definitions is the Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia in Bird Library. Some of the glossary terms will appear on homework and quizzes.
The course will include weekly readings, assignments, quizzes, and examinations; there will also be some take-home laboratory exercises. The questions on these tests will emphasize: a) your understanding of the answers to the questions accompanying each module, b) your knowledge of definitions, c) your understanding of key concepts in depth, and d) your understanding of all aspects of assigned activities. If you miss homework deadlines, a quiz or exam, or do not hand in notes when required, you will need an excuse written by some outside authority who can document the reasons for your absence, or else you will receive a grade of zero. Homework deadlines are always before the start of class. If you cannot deposit the homework yourself, give it to a friend.
The final course grade will be based on a combination of performance on the assignments (20%), laboratory exercises and class participation (20%), term projects and in-class presentations (20%), quizzes (15%), and examinations (25%). We will also issue "benefit-of-the-doubt credits" for your successful participation in optional assignments and for your attendance at special lectures (notably Frontiers of Physics or Frontiers of Science evening lectures or Science Film lectures; if you cannot attend such lectures, ask for optional assignments.) These credits-which have been very popular in other introductory physics courses in the past few years-are redeemable for elevation of borderline grades. A minimum of three credits are required for grade improvement (e.g. a B+ will be raised to an A).
IMPORTANT-The quizzes will be unannounced, and will serve to give you practice for the examinations, keep you current with the material, and give you "credit" for attending classes. We strongly encourage you to take notes in class. You will be permitted to look at your class notes-but not other materials-while answering in-class quiz questions. You will have a minimum of one week notice before an examination. We will allow you to retake an examination to improve your grade. There will be no final examination.
Here we will discuss how much work you should do, and when you need to do it. Please read this section carefully.
How much work should you do for this 4 credit course? This usually implies 8 hours of work you should do outside of the class each week, or 2 hours for every hour in class. Our assignments are based on the following average estimates. A careful reading of a page in our texts should take about 3 minutes, and so should a carefully proposed answer to each homework question. Thus, in 2 hours, you should be able to read about 20 pages of text and, in addition, answer about 20 questions. We will therefore attempt to keep the assignment for each class to less than a combination of 40 pages and questions total. Similarly, for take-home laboratory activities that we have planned, a typical expectation would be for you to spend an hour on the activity in your residence and an hour at a computer cluster for every hour in the Monday afternoon laboratory session.
When should you do the work? Here is the sequence you and we should follow: 1) read the assignment before lectures, answer questions, hand in the answers by the due date (you should not need the lecture to answer these questions-the readings should do the job-but ask one of us if you have any problems); 2) come to lectures, listen to class presentations, take notes, participate in discussion; and 3) answer any additional discussion questions from subsequent assignments that are related to readings and lectures, review homework, notes, quizzes.
If you do not already have an account on a campus computer, you should obtain one by going to the Computing Services Information Center in 116 Hinds Hall. Ask too for documents and, if necessary, for demonstrations on how to use your account to read and send electronic mail (Email). You are encouraged to use your account to communicate with the instructors, with other students, and even with your friends at other universities. E-mail is a fast, reliable way to communicate with other people all over the world (and it's free!).
This course will be credited as satisfying requirements of a major-component lecture and laboratory course in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics. These are described in the section "Clusters in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics" in the Liberal Arts Core Guidebook (1994-95) of the College of Arts and Sciences. Physics 105 also satisfies the Writing Skills requirement of the College.
We want you to enjoy the course and to enhance your interest in science. We welcome your suggestions, comments, and criticism. This course will be evaluated during the semester. Give us prompt feedback if anything is not working for you.
You are encouraged to discuss any materials relating to this class with your fellow students. However, any written work such as assignments and lab reports are required to be entirely your own. If you utilize the same data as another student in a written report, because you worked together on a lab, you should specify this. Only the data may be identical, never the text. Do not work with other students on your homework-do not copy homework assignments from another student under any circumstances, and be sure to use your own words (do not copy directly from texts or handouts). We take cheating seriously in this course. Penalties will be in accord with general college policy, and may include dismissal. Plagiarism is considered cheating. Ask one of the faculty if you have any questions about our policy.
The acoustical properties of Stolkin Auditorium is such that your whispered conversations can often be heard by other students and the lecturer even though you think they cannot. Please do not talk except by raising your hand to ask a question. You can also shout "question!" if we do not see you. In addition, keep you paper shuffling to a minimum.
You should also arrive in class on time, and do not leave or begin to gather your belongings until the instructor ends the lecture.
We want you to learn from and enjoy the course. We want your grades to be fair. If you feel we are not doing this, please talk first to your TA (recitation/lab instructor) if appropriate. Next in line is your lecturer-who will tell you how to proceed if you remain unsatisfied.writingquantitative(tentative)
Any students who need special consideration because of any sort of disability should make an appointment to see either Prof. Goldberg or Prof. Lipson during office hours.
required texts
Science Matters (Hazen, R., and Trefil, J.) Doubleday, New York, 1991.
Science Explained (Ronan, CA, editor) Henry Holt, New York, 1993.
recommended books
Science for All Americans (Rutherford,FJ and Ahlgren,A) Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990.
Modern Physics and Antiphysics (Baker, Adolph) Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Reading, MA, 1970.
The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings (Gardner, Martin) 3rd ed., W.H. Freeman, New York, 1990.
The Search For Life in the Universe (Goldsmith, Donald) Benjamin/Cummings Publ. Co., Menlo Park, CA, 1980.
texts for introductory science courses at SU
Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life (Starr, C) 6th ed., Wadsworth Pub. Co., Belmont, Calif., 1992 [BIO 121, 123]
World of Chemistry (Joesten,MD, Johnston,DO, Netterville,JT & Wood,JL) Saunders, Philadelphia, 1991. [CHE 103,113]
Earth Science and the Environment (Thompson, GR) Saunders, Fort Worth, Texas, 1993
Physics - A World View (Kirkpatrick,LD & Wheeler,GF) Saunders, Philadelphia, 1992. [PHY 101,102]
Except for the required texts, the books are-or soon will be-on reserve in the physics library for PHY105 (the Earth Science book will be on reserve in the geology library). Beyond the books listed above, other recommended books will be identified in the course modules and in other materials.
rev. 04/28/95