Instructor:  Janet McVittie
Office:  Ed 3033
Office Phone:  966-7582
e-mail:  janet.mcvittie@usask.ca
Office hours:  by arrangement

Calendar Description

Prerequisites:  EDCUR 200 and 18 cu in the natural sciences.

Students examine how scientists know what they know, what kind of knowledge this is, how the social and technological milieu interacts with scientists and their knowledge, and implications for teaching science.  Emphasis is given to analyzing scientific events from a number of different perspectives:  historical, philosophical, sociological, and pedagogical.

Introduction

The first question usually asked about this course is “What does epistemology mean?”  I hope by the end of this course that you can not only spell the word, but use it meaningfully in sentences.  What would be ideal is that you would choose to discuss epistemology with your students, so they learn what it means!

Epistemology is the study of how knowledge is created.  Different cultures, different subject areas have different ways of creating knowledge.  Different cultures, different subject areas pose different questions as worth answering.  Ontology is the study of the world beyond our minds.  Different cultures, different subject areas make different assumptions about the world outside our minds and assign different value to the different aspects of this world.  The epistemology of science is the study of how science knowledge is created, and the ontology of science is the assumptions we make about what we perceive, and that value we assign to our perceptions.  The sociology of science is how scientists work together and the institutions that they create.

In this course, we begin with 1) questioning the assumptions we have made of our perceptions.  Can we trust our perceptions?  We will go on to 2) examine some pivotal points in the history of science, to attempt to follow the evolution of western science.  We will then 3) attempt to define science.  Then we will 4) examine science as it exists in other cultures.

The course is participatory.  You will be discussing and performing in class.  To be prepared, you must do the readings as they are assigned.  There are readings on reserve in the library.  For the performance aspect, groups of you will research what you will be performing.  Although there will be much group work, as much as possible, you will be individually assessed.

Required Texts

Kuhn, Thomas (1996)  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.  Chicago, IL:  University of Chicago Press.

Franklin, Ursula (1998) The Real World of Technology.  House of Anansi Press.

Assignments

Assignment 1	(paper)	Febrary 11-15	10%
	(presentation):		10%
Assignment 2		March 4	20%
Course Readings			20%
Midterm		February 4	10%
Final Exam		TBA	30%
Total:			100%

University Policy on Evaluation

Please read the university’s descriptors for different grades.  In the College of Education, we try to stick with these descriptors.  A 90% means the quality of the work is exceptional.  80% means the work is excellent.  70% means the work is good.

I will be evaluating you systematically, thoroughly, and as fairly as I can.  I will sample different kinds of work that you do ­ oral and written, original and studied, group and individual, thoughtful and on-the-spot.  From the samples, I will attempt to assess what you have learned about the three aspects of this course ­ history, technology, multicultural science.  The evaluations I put on the samples will be the mark you will get.  Adding up the weighted averages will reflect your final mark.  By the time you write your final exam, you should have 70% of your marks.  There should be no surprises.

Further, you will have 70% of your marks by the latest date for dropping the course without academic penalty (March 15, Friday).  If you find that you are not doing as well as you hoped, or are in danger of failing, meet with me to discuss your options ­ before the final drop date.

University Policy on Attendance

It is in the university calendar.  Read it.  As well, you are responsible for contacting me if you will be away.  You may phone, e-mail, send a note, tell me in class that you will be away.

University Policy on Plagiarism

Check the university web page on plagiarism.  Do not plagiarize.  The university and the college are very strict in their attitudes towards plagiarists.

Description of Assignments

Assignment 1:  Case Studies from the history of Western Science.

Due:  MWF February 11 to 15.  10% for presentation, 10% for paper.

You will do this assignment in a group of five people.

After each title of a case, I have listed a number of people who were involved in the case.  You do not have to include these people in your presentation, nor is the list of names exhaustive.

If you think of another case study which you think is integral to the development of Western science, please tell me.  I have not thought of everything here.  Your ideas are welcome.  However, the first four of the cases must be done.

Your group’s research of the case will focus on the particular event you have chosen (or been assigned to).  You should use Holton’s facets of science as a way of analyzing the event.  However, the point of the assignment is to attempt to determine what effect(s) the particular event had on the evolution of western science.

In your group, you will decide what approach you will take on presenting your research to the rest of the class.  You will have 20 to 25 minutes to present your research.  Options for presentation are limited by your imagination and common decency.  Choose an appropriate instructional strategy, such as concept formation, or role play, or simulation or debate.  Let me know if you are going to use the computer for your presentation.

You will divide up the research, so that one person is not collecting and reading all the books.  You will have to meet to organize the material, but you can meet asynchronously on line.

Each of you will hand in to me a maximum of three pages of the research you did, written in proper academic style, and properly referenced.  Your three page paper should be organized around the key points of the scientific event, using one or more of Holton’s facets of scientific events.  Half the mark for this assignment will come from your three page write up.  The other half the mark will be shared with your group members, and will be assigned for the 20 to 25 minute presentation.

Assignment 2:  Technological Literacy

Due Monday, March 4.  20%

Choose a partner.  You will work in pairs for this assignment.

Choose a technology.  Develop a teaching module where your students will investigate and learn about the technology.  A teaching module is a set of lessons, three to five lessons, with a common theme.  Your teaching module should help your students come to a new understanding of a technology.  Use Fleming’s paper “Literacy for a technological age” as your framework for analyzing the technology.  Suggestions of technologies are:  writing, paper, pulleys, electricity, house cleaning, laundry, domestic animals, internet, credit cards….  Again, you are limited only by your imagination and common decency ­ although this brings to mind the invention of the flush toilet, by Sir Thomas Crapper (knighted for this most excellent invention).

What you will hand in:  A concept web including the technical, organizational and cultural aspects of the technology.  A one paragraph rationale justifying why it is important for your students to learn about the particular technology you have chosen.  Three to five lessons, written so that a substitute teacher could use them, with the module including at least three different instructional methods.  See the requirements of a basic lesson plan on the course web page.  See the instructional methods on the course web page.

When you hand this assignment in, you and your partner will tell me who did the most work, by how you want the mark divided.  If you want your mark evenly shared, then I assume you are both accepting that you did equal amounts of work.  If you both agree that all the mark should go to one person, I will assume that one partner did nothing.  Etc.  You both must agree on the mark division.

Assignment 3:  Course Readings

There are two texts, and there are numerous articles on reserve in the library for you.  You are expected to read, and to participate in discussions of these readings.  I will use checklists, anecdotal comments, fast-writes, and exit slips to determine whether you have read the papers and texts, and the depth to which you have considered these readings.  In some cases, to alleviate the intensity of the readings, you will be in reading groups.  In these cases, your peers in your reading group might be asked to assess whether you have completed your share of the readings.