Interdisciplinary Science:
Basic Principles
Science 1101 - Spring 2004
Dr. Dirnberger
Office: 338 Science Building
e-mail:
Phone: 770 423-6546 (e-mail is a more reliable way to contact me)
"Of course, if Dr. Mortimer's surmise should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation. But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one" -Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“I cannot refrain from demonstrating the nonsensicalness of some of what we take to be irrefutable certainties”. –MC Escher
“All our science, measured against reality, is primtive and childlike - yet it is the most precious thing we have”. – Albert Einstein
COURSE OBJECTIVES
There are nearly 2 million species of living things described on our planet, a planet that orbits a star which is one of 400 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, which is merely one of 100 billion galaxies. Science is one way that humans attempt to make some sense of an extremely complex and diverse universe. And making some sense of the natural world is critical given that humans are altering a global environment they hardly understand.
Whether we like it or not, we depend on scientific evidence to make everyday decisions, though often times the information we receive seems confusing and contradictory. How do we come to have confidence in some scientific ideas and not in others? The approach we will take in this course will likely differ from science courses you have taken in the past. We will focus on our current perception of complex natural phenomena and on why we can have confidence in the processes that have led us to these understandings. To achieve these goals the approach will be historical and comparative. This course will focus on the nature of scientific understanding, so that you will be better equipped to evaluate in the following course our understanding of human impact on the environment and the difficulties we face in implementing solutions.
Even beyond these practical concerns, science can be fascinating. No…really! The universe as revealed by science is often far stranger and exotic than that envisioned by the most fantastic fiction.
"The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, but queerer than we can imagine." - J.B.S. Haldane
COURSE OUTLINE
I. Science as a way of making sense of the complexity of nature and the universe.
Why are there controversies in science? (pp.3-4)
Overview of the scientific process (pp. 4-11)
Anatomy of some scientific controversies
Historical examples
The structure of space and time
Views of the ancients
Concepts since the rise of modern science
Recent (and strange) ideas
The structure of matter and the nature of energy (pp. 25-47)
Views of the ancients
Concepts since the rise of modern science
Recent (and strange) ideas
How science works today and some present-day examples of controversies (pp. 11-14)
The extinction of the dinosaur
Life elsewhere
II. Using science to understand the environment
A need for better understanding of the environment (pp 14- 22)
Present understandings of complexity in environmental systems
Physical systems (pp. 194-209)
Biological Systems (pp. 49-54)
Ecological Systems (pp. 54-73)
Examinations
Exams are a way for both you and me to evaluate what you have learned. There will be 3 regular examinations and one comprehensive final.
Exam #1 / 5 FebruaryExam #2 / 18 March
Exam #3 / 20 April
Comprehensive Final Exam / 29 April at the normal class time
Lectures
I encourage you to ask questions and make comments during lectures. Lecture attendance is not taken. However, the text contains more information than lecture, and, quite obviously, lecture emphasizes the material I consider most important. Much of the lecture material is not in the book. I have provided lecture outlines and graphics on-line (accessed through the Course Narrative via the class web page), but these are only outlines to make note taking easier (i.e. this is not an online course). Generally, an hour of lecture is worth several hours of copying and reading others' notes and of wading through texts. Everyone learns differently and attendance is up to you. However, you are responsible for announcements made in class.
LABORATORY
Location of labs: Where you will perform each laboratory exercise depends on the week the lab is to be done: Some labs require on-campus attendance (see schedule below). For Weeks #3 and #8, lab will be set up for only one week, Monday to Saturday during designated hours), thus there can be no make-up.
Lab is worth 20% of your course grade! For Labs #3 and #8 in the Nursing Building, the lab instructor will record of your attendance. It is your responsibility to check in and out of lab with the instructor on duty. If the lab is filled to capacity, you will have to wait until space is available.
You will not have to purchase a lab manual. Instead, instructions for each lab exercise will be published on the web (links are provided on our class web page). Be sure that you turn in only those printouts and activity sheets requested in right-hand column of the following table (i.e. I am not requiring all activity sheets to be turned in). Lab assignments will be turned in at the beginning of class on the following Tuesday after the last lab of the three-week module. Lab reports with identical (or near identical) answers will be given a grade of zero.
Lab schedule (see our Lab Web Page for hyperlinks to instruction for each lab):
Module / Week# / Exercise / Dates / Location / Notes on assignments1st Module:
Basic Skills and Principles / 1 / Experimental analysis / 19-24 Jan / Computer labs on 4th floor of Burruss Bldg. / Use Fish Species "K".
2 / Statistics and Graphing / 26-31 Jan / Online / Take a look at this exercise and review the material if you are not familiar with these skills.
3 / Measurement / 2-7 Feb / 112 Nursing Bldg. / Turn in only ‘Lab Printout’ from Week #1 and ‘Capstone Activity sheet’ from Week #3 (stapled together). Due 10 February.
2nd Module: Turbidity Study / 4 / Turbidity sampling / 15 Feb / In the field / Sample your local creek on Sunday 15 February
5 / Turbidity sample analysis / 17 Feb / In class
(109 Science Bldg) / Analyze on 17 February in lecture class
6 / Turbidity data analysis / 23 –28 Feb / At home / Write turbidity lab report.
Due 2 March
3rd Module: Biogeo-chemical Cycling / 7 / Trees and Carbon / 1-6 Mar / Online / Take a look at this exercise and review the material, however you are not required to do this week’s activity sheet.
8 / Carbon Cycling / 15-20 Mar / 112 Nursing Bldg / Be sure to attend this lab in order to complete the activity sheet required below
9 / Analysis of Personal Impacts / 22-27 Mar / Online / Turn in only ‘Activity sheet’ from Week #8 and the ‘Capstone Activity sheet’ from Week #9 (stapled together). Due 30 March
4th Module: Erosion Assessment Study / 10 / Erosion workshop / 30 March / In class
(109 Science Bldg) / Attend the Sedimentation/Erosion workshop during lecture class on 30 March
11 / Erosion data collection / 5-10 Apr / In the field / Sedimentation/Erosion data due electronically using web "Erosion survey form" by 10 April
12 / Erosion data analysis / 12-17 Apr / At home / Write Sedimentation/Erosion letters. Due 22 April
SPECIAL LAB PROJECT (2nd and 4th LAB MODULES) – Water Quality: Turbidity and Sedimentation/Erosion
Instead of attending and completing the regularly scheduled labs that all other 1101 students for Modules 2 and 4, you will be performing a service-learning project involving local water quality issues. The objectives of this project are 1) to produce a unique data set of water quality of the north Atlanta area, and 2) introduce you directly to the complexity and scale of environmental problems. There are two parts to this project:
· -Establishing and documenting water quality problems (measuring turbidity in streams; 2nd module)
· -Assessing possible sources (evaluating erosion practices; 4th module)
There are several important dates when your participation is mandatory:
15 February (Sunday)-- Collection of water sample from stream.
17 February -- In-class (lecture) turbidity analysis of samples collected on Sunday.
30 March -- In-class (lecture) Sedimentation/Erosion Workshop.
For this project, we will do group research and each individual will be responsible for analyzing the data and writing a final lab report and letters of evaluation.
In the first part of this project (2nd Module), each student in this class will be required to collect a water sample from an area stream before coming to class. The samples will be brought to class and analyzed in class for turbidity (turbidity is an estimate of water clarity). Everyone’s data will then be combined into one large data set and you will use this data set to address your hypothesis and write your report.
In the second part of this project (4th Module), you will evaluate the implementation of erosion control measures at a construction site. Such areas remove vegetation (plants hold soil and reduce soil runoff), potentially increasing erosion of soil into streams.
The purposes of studies are to introduce you to the complexity of real scientific data and to the challenges in using such data to effect public policy. More details on this project will be given in class on a future date.
Required book
Lecture (to be used also in Science 1102): Principles of Environmental Science. Cunningham and Cunningham
Lab: There is no lab book. All lab instruction will be downloaded from Dr. D’s lab web page: http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/ScienceI/lab/lab.html
Class web site
http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/scienceI/
Note that the 'I' in scienceI is a capital letter ‘i’. This web site also includes the lab schedule, a detailed course narrative, and outlines for the lectures.
Grades
Exams and Final (4) / 100 pts each / = 400 ptsLab reports for weeks 1-3 (Lab Module 1) / 20 pts each / = 20 pts
Turbidity project report (Lab Module 2) / 20 pts each / = 20 pts
Lab reports for weeks 7-9 (Lab Module 3) / 20 pts / = 20 pts
Letters of Evaluation (Lab Module 4) / 20 pts / = 40 pts
500 pts
A= 90% (450pts); B= 80% (400 pts); C= 70% (350 pts); D= 60% (300 pts)
Last day to withdraw without academic penalty is 3 March.
POLICIES
o Keep all of your returned, graded work (exams and lab reports). You must have these materials if in the unlikely event that you decide to contest your final course grade.
o Do not turn in assignments electronically (i.e. I want hard copies).
o Late papers and reports will result in a 10% reduction per class period.
Office hours
Monday Wednesday 9 am - 12 pm; Tuesday 1-3 pm Friday 1-3 pm
Feel free to come in and talk about anything. If you can not make it during these times, I will be glad to make an appointment with you. If you are having any problems with the material, please come by and see me. Don't put it off until it is too late. If you can't come by, note that I check my e-mail more often than my phone messages.
Official Stuff
ACADEMIC WITHDRAWAL (From College or Individual Courses)
Students who find that they cannot continue in college for the entire semester after being enrolled, because of illness or any other reason, should complete an official withdrawal form. Forms may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar. Students who officially withdraw from courses will be assigned grades of “W” which will not affect their overall scholastic average. Those students who stop attending classes and notify no one usually are assigned failing grades which jeopardize their chances of future academic success. Students may, by means of the same withdrawal form withdraw from individual courses while retaining others courses on their schedule. The last day to with draw without academic penalty for this semester is March 3, 2004. Failure to do so will mean that the student has elected to receive the final grade earned in the course. The only exceptions to these withdrawal regulations will be for those instances that involve unusual and fully documented circumstances.
Academic Integrity
Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Student code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the University’s policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/falsification of University records or academic malicious/intentional misuses of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an “Informal” resolution b y a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct’s minimum one semester suspension requirement.
SCIENCE 1101: INTEGRATED SCIENCE: BASIC PRINCIPLES as a course in the General Education Program