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)