Class: TuTh 9:00-9:50 in C107 Instructor: Dr.
Rob Pfaff
WF 10:00-10:50 in C102 Office
Hours: WF 11:00 – 11:50
W
12:00 – 12:50
(and
by appointment)
Office: S
304A
Phone: 866-6380
The required text for the course is available at the College
Store: Core 5 Syllabus.
The
Science Book: Everything You Need to Know About the World and How It Works, National
Geographic, 2011, ISBN-10: 1426208081
COVERAGE
The lecture material will be covered on or about the dates
indicated in the Core 5 Syllabus. If warranted, this schedule may be revised
as the semester progresses. Important dates in our discussion class are given
below:
|
Week
|
Date
|
Readings from Text
|
Discussion Period Activity
(We'll fill these in later!)
|
Graded Work
|
|
1
|
8/21
|
12-15
|
|
|
|
|
8/23
|
118-132
|
|
|
|
2
|
8/28
|
133-137
|
|
|
|
|
8/30
|
|
|
1-Pager 1 due
|
|
3
|
9/4
|
194-217
|
|
|
|
|
9/6
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
9/11
|
258-267
|
|
|
|
|
9/13
|
283-286
|
|
1-Pager 2 due
|
|
5
|
9/18
|
286-293
|
|
Discussion Exam 1
|
|
|
9/20
|
17-21, 24-25
|
|
|
|
6
|
9/25
|
311-315,320-321
|
|
|
|
|
9/27
|
316-319, 68-71
|
|
|
|
7
|
10/2
|
324-325
|
Moon Journal start
|
|
|
|
10/4
|
|
|
1-Pager 3 due
|
|
8
|
10/9
|
|
|
|
|
|
10/10
|
Common Midterm Exam (cumulative for the 1st
half of the course)
|
|
|
10/11
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
10/16
|
48-51
|
|
|
|
|
10/18
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
10/23
|
22
|
|
1-Pager 4 due
|
|
|
10/25
|
26-29
|
|
|
|
11
|
10/30
|
38-47
|
|
Discussion Exam 2
|
|
|
11/1
|
|
|
|
|
12
|
11/6
|
No Class – Election Day
|
|
|
11/8
|
53-67, 76-79
|
|
|
|
13
|
11/13
|
88-93
|
|
Short
Story due
|
|
|
11/15
|
|
|
|
|
|
11/20&22
|
Thanksgiving break
|
|
14
|
11/27
|
295-306
|
|
Research Paper due
|
|
|
11/29
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
12/4
|
280-281,124-127
|
|
1-Pager 5 due
|
|
|
12/6
|
|
|
|
|
|
12/14
|
The Common Final Exam (cumulative for the 2nd
half of the course), 8:00 a.m.
|
EXAMS, REPORTS, PAPERS, AND GRADING
The following activities will take place or be due at the
times stated above.
|
2 Common Exams
|
275 pts ea
|
|
2
Discussion Exams
|
100 pts ea
|
|
1
Presentation
|
50 pts
|
|
1 Short
Story
|
125 pts
|
|
1 Research
Paper (5 pages)
|
125 pts
|
|
Moon
Journal
|
50 pts
|
|
1 Lab
Report
|
50 pts
|
|
5 1-Pager
Lit Commentary
|
20 pts ea
|
|
participation
|
70 pts
|
The Core 5 faculty have agreed to
the following policy on lecture attendance. You may miss three (3) lectures
without penalty. The fourth and subsequent absences will cause your course
grade to drop by 3% per missed lecture. Because of this policy, seating at
Core 5 lectures will be by sections; look for me the first day to identify our
section. Please check your athletic, activity, and travel schedules to ensure
that you will not miss more than three lectures. Athletic absences will count
against the three allowed. Also, if you transfer Core sections, your
attendance record will go with you.
Your grade will be determined from the sum of your scores on
the graded work. You are responsible for topics covered in the text, even
if they are not covered in class. You are also responsible for topics covered
in class, even if they are not covered in the text.
The short story is to be a science fiction story. It is an
attempt to tie together the literature parts of earlier Cores with the content
of Science Core. See the end of this outline for details. The other paper
will be a research paper, at least five pages in text length. See the end of
this outline for details. Both of these papers will be submitted to
turnitin.com. Our course ID is XXXXXXXX and the enrollment password is yyyyyy.
The two lab reports will be chosen from among several
experiments being done by Core 5 sections. We will talk about these labs in
more detail the week before each is to be done. However, even though the
procedures may be carried out in groups, each student is to write their own lab
report.
The presentation is to be a short (10 – 15 minute) review of
Core 5 lecture. Each student will be assigned a lecture and is responsible for
presenting a summary of it at the next discussion meeting. I am not looking
for introduction of new material, but rather a review of the terminology and
important ideas from the lecture. You should think up analogies or quick
demonstrations to illustrate the ideas. That is, I am looking for a
presentation, not simply a reading of the lecture notes.
The 1-Pagers are due each week stated above. You are to
look for a science article in the popular press (news magazines, science
magazines, etc.) and write a short (approximately one page, hence the term
1-pager) summary of it and a commentary on it. No WWW
pages may be used. The only acceptable newspapers are national
papers, such as the Wall Street Journal. The 1-pagers may be hand
written but put it on decent, untorn, 81/2 x 11 inch paper. Attach a photocopy
of the article to it.
Your results of discussion and lab activities will count 2½ points
per discussion period. Two days aren’t graded, the discussion exam days.
The grade cut-offs are below:
|
Grade
|
Percent
|
Grade
|
Percent
|
|
A
|
93%
|
C+
|
77%
|
|
A-
|
90%
|
C
|
73%
|
|
B+
|
87%
|
C-
|
70%
|
|
B
|
83%
|
D+
|
67%
|
|
B-
|
80%
|
D
|
60%
|
Exams are to be taken at the scheduled times; 1-pagers and
the papers are due at the beginning of the discussion period on the due date.
Late papers will be docked 10% of their value for each day (or fraction
thereof) they are late, starting at the due time; therefore, a paper that is 1
hour late will be docked 10%, after your class’s meeting time the next day, the
penalty is 20%, etc. If a conflict arises which prevents completing a task at
the scheduled time, I may, at my discretion, give an extension. Requests for
extensions must be made prior to the start of the scheduled due time. A
telephone message is sufficient. Requests made after the scheduled due time
will not be considered. In addition, it is my policy not to approve dropping
the course after the College’s drop date.
If you are a student with a disability, kindly meet with me
immediately to discuss the accommodations you will need during class
activities, examinations, and out of class assignments in order to participate
fully and demonstrate your abilities.
Feel free to keep your scores in the spaces provided below
so you can always tell where you stand in the course.
Short Story
Guidelines
For this assignment, you are to write a science fiction
short story. Experience shows that typically these stories should be at least
5 pages long, double-spaced, in order to accomplish all the elements.
Sometimes it can be done in less, but not usually. Note I am more interested in
the development of the story than in the length.
These guidelines are not meant to be exhaustive. Face it,
whole books have been written on the subject. Hopefully, however, I can give
you enough general points to get you started on your short story. In many
ways, though, just pick up a short story you like and see how it’s structured.
The basics:
A Short Story
·
is built around
one problem or conflict
·
is able to be
read in a single sitting
·
does not feature
very many characters
There are four elements to the story
·
Characters – the
people, animals, and creatures featured in the story; the “who”
·
Setting – the
time, place, and environment of the story; the “where”
·
Plot – the
sequence of events, what happens; the “conflict”
·
Theme – the
message, lesson, moral, the main idea
Graphically, the story should follow a curve:
where you
start by introducing and developing characters, defining the environment, and
introducing the conflict. As the story continues, complications are
introduced, showing how the characters’ static existence is challenged. The
climax is the part where the turmoil is at a maximum and it is not clear how or
even whether issues can be resolved. However, by the end, the issues (or some
of them) are resolved. It is not necessary to resolve all issues, it is
acceptable to let the reader think of how s/he would resolve the issues.
Since this is an assignment for a science fiction short
story, you must include technology. It must be plausible. You must show an
understanding of how the technology or concept is used and you must define it
for the reader. The technology issues can either represent 1) the actual
source of the conflict (e.g., how will Earth avoid annihilation from its own
pollution history) or 2) a source of a complication (e.g., we could win the
race if not for the giga-horsepower engine in our unscrupulous adversary’s
vehicle). How technology figures in, including whether it is part of the
problem or part of the resolution, is up to you.
Note that the story requires the use of technology, that is,
applications (machines or processes) of science. Simply stating some
scientific principle is not sufficient. Also, the names of the characters and
institutions (schools, businesses, etc.) should be fictional, too!
Utilize the Writing Clinic. The students there are usually
well-versed in fiction.
Really...go look at one of your favorite short stories!
Note: Short stories are not research papers and so do not
need references.
You will submit the short story to turnitin.com.
Research
Paper Guidelines
You will need to research a topic covered in Core Science;
your choice. BUT, I expect to see at least five full MEANINGFUL pages of text,
so don’t choose a topic that is too narrow or for which little information is
available. Conversely, don’t choose a topic so broad that five pages of text
are only a superficial treatment. I will consult on topics, but the final
choice is yours.
From the above, you should get the idea that I want five
full pages of text (typed, 10- or 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1”
margins on all sides, page numbered). In addition to the five pages of text,
you should have a cover sheet with the title, the date, and your name; endnotes,
illustrations, etc., should follow the five pages of text. (I do expect endnotes,
not a bibliography. Check The Everyday Writer for more information.
Note that some styles might call these endnotes or works cited or something
else similar.) I don’t really care whether you use Modern Language
Association, American Library Association, American Psychological Association,
American Chemical Society, or some other style, but be consistent. Your paper
should feature a concise (short) introduction, the meat of the discussion, and
a conclusion.
Beyond it covering a Core Science topic, your paper should
do four things.
·
First, it should
review past research on the topic, that is, give a history of the study of your
topic.
·
Second, it
should discuss what the current theories are.
·
Third, it should
present what researchers think the future study of the topic is likely to
reveal.
·
Fourth, discuss
how this topic (what is known and how it’s studied) fits into your own value
set.
Obviously, the history of the topic and the current theories
require footnotes. The future predictions can be footnoted to researchers, but
you can also venture your own predictions. The value assessment probably won’t
be footnoted unless you find citations backing up your beliefs.
You must have a minimum of five references. For a research
paper, newsmagazines (such as Time and Newsweek), encyclopedias,
dictionaries, and newspapers are NOT acceptable references.
Journals, monographs, and higher-level magazines, such as Scientific
American, are suitable as references. Core lectures and Core syllabi are
not considered acceptable sources. The only web pages that are suitable as
references are those that are electronic versions of print journals. So for
example, articles from Discover magazine that can be retrieved online
are acceptable.
You will submit the research paper to turnitin.com.