HSCI 2333v -- New Course

Tue Nov 18 13:11:58 2014

Approvals Received:
Department
on 11-18-14
by Barbara Eastwold
(eastw002@umn.edu)
Approvals Pending: College/Dean  > Provost > Honors > LE > WI > Catalog > PeopleSoft Manual Entry
Effective Status: Active
Effective Term: 1159 - Fall 2015
Course: HSCI 2333V
Institution:
Campus:		 UMNTC - Twin Cities
UMNTC - Twin Cities
Career: UGRD
College: TIOT - College of Science and Engineering
Department: 11142 - Science & Technology, Hist of
General
Course Title Short: Sci & Tech in the Am Century
Course Title Long: Honors Course: Science and Technology in the American Century
Max-Min Credits
for Course:		 3.0 to 3.0 credit(s)
Catalog
Description:		 In the twentieth century, the United States became a leader in science and technology. This course examines reasons for such success and also the ways in which those activities raised ethical and social concerns.
Print in Catalog?: Yes
CCE Catalog
Description:		 <no text provided>
Grading Basis: A-F only
Topics Course: No
Honors Course: Yes
Online Course: No
Instructor
Contact Hours:		 3.0 hours per week
Years most
frequently offered:		 Every academic year
Term(s) most
frequently offered:		 Fall, Spring
Component 1: DIS (no final exam)
Component 2: LEC (with final exam)
Auto-Enroll
Course:		 Yes
Graded
Component:		 DIS
Academic
Progress Units:		 Not allowed to bypass limits.
3.0 credit(s)
Financial Aid
Progress Units:		 Not allowed to bypass limits.
3.0 credit(s)
Repetition of
Course:		 Repetition not allowed.
Course
Prerequisites
for Catalog:		 <no text provided>
Course
Equivalency:		 HSCI 2333V equiv 3333V
Consent
Requirement:		 No required consent
Enforced
Prerequisites:
(course-based or
non-course-based)		 000571 - honors student
Editor Comments: <no text provided>
Proposal Changes: Taking existing course HSCI 3333V and adjusting it to fit a 2000-level course to become HSCI 2333V
History Information: <no text provided>
Faculty
Sponsor Name:		 Sally Gregory Kohlstedt
Faculty
Sponsor E-mail Address:		 sgk@umn.edu
Student Learning Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: * Student in the course:

- Can identify, define, and solve problems

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

Students in this class write several short papers, each of which require that they find a theme in primary source materials, focus on an issue to be addressed and then marshal evidence to describe and point out the ethical problems encountered. They work in teams on an assigned historical circumstance in which they tease out ethical dimensions to present in an oral presentation and written paper that posits solutions (sometimes competing and contested) to the situation described. Note that the ethics projects (specifically noted in the syllabus) such as Buck vs. Bell require these elements. This is the Supreme Court case in 1927 that upheld sterilization for eugenic purposes. Students typically present both sides of the case in class and discuss why the defendant's arguments were so persuasive that Oliver Wendall Holmes declared, "three generations of imbeciles is enough."

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

This leads us into a broader discussion of community and private incentives (and most recently into a contextual discussion of virus protection and the individual versus the herd). Students are asked frame the issue in ethical terms so that they move beyond simply personal reactions. When students do their in class presentations, they are evaluated by a peer questionnaire as well as by the instructor who comments on content, presentation, and discussion leadership.

- Can locate and critically evaluate information

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

Students write a paper that requires the use of the library (to which they are introduced by a specialist librarian) and the investigation of both primary and secondary sources. They are allowed to use online sources but must describe how they ascertained the credibility of such sources. The major paper requires an annotated bibliography in which each source entry must be described and evaluated.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

The use of on-line and library sources is evaluated when the students submit their group projects and on any other assignment where they use sources that are not part of class required reading. The written project requires that students use at least three types of sources (biography, newspapers, archival materials, legislation, articles by an expert, artifacts, or other material) so that can assess what value and perhaps competing points of view should be taken into account in writing up their historical paper.

- Have mastered a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

A major goal of the course is to provide students with a working knowledge of some ways in which science and technology have intersected with social and political life in the United States. The class uses course secondary readings, online primary source materials, films, and a field trip to the Mill Museum in order to show the variety of ways history is produced. The course provides a framework for the contextual development of science and attention to the institutions that are critical.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

There are five units in the course that deal with substantial elements of that history. The mid-term and final exam require an integration and explication of the variety of sources as well as classroom and section discussions. Students will have learned to read and evaluate newspaper, journal, image and other primary evidence as well as to analyze and comment on the methods and arguments of historians using multiple types of historical work including a monograph on eugenics, a biography, a standard textbook source, and a position account of modern biology and bioethics.

- Understand diverse philosophies and cultures within and across societies

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

The course deliberately moves beyond the United States to offer a counterpart in the other dominant political power in the twentieth century, the Soviet Union. The history of this country needs to be placed, when appropriate, in global perspective. Looking closely at the interwar enthusiasm for positivist science and giganticism as reflected in projects like mega dams and the TVA, the class discusses how very different political systems pursued rather similar goals. Technology and its applications can have multiple faces and outcomes.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

From the outset of the course, there is attention to the interplay of national outlooks on science (Germany on eugenics, for example) as these are both defined in their own context and in comparison with the United States. Two units concentrate on a comparative account, namely in the growth of a technocratic outlook in both the USSR and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s and in the Space Race after World War II. This allows students to identify some significant (and sometimes uncomfortable) parallels even as they see how different political, social, and economic circumstances lead to different ways of using science and technology. They have both written assignments and typically one essay question that focus on this comparative element in the course.

- Can communicate effectively

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

Students in this class do multiple written assignments, on which they do peer reviews and have extensive written comments dealing both with the substance of their papers and with its effective communication. All students participate in an oral presentation to the entire class and a significant part of their grade relates to their participation in discussion. In all of these modes, we talk about the ways to communicate effectively.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

Students do peer reviews on at least two of the microthemes (these are typically based on on-line primary source materials that can be found on the Moodle website) before they are submitted. In addition, students write evaluations on all the in-class presentations and these are provided (without names attached) to the presenters so that they get audience response as well as faculty response that they can use in writing their final papers. At the end of the course the students also do a self-assessment about what they have learned and some always comment that they have become more comfortable participating in discussion and framing their own point of view and also more able to present to a group.

- Understand the role of creativity, innovation, discovery, and expression across disciplines

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

This is a history class that deals with science and technology. It is fundamental to the course that students recognize how science and technology progress, the methods both used in advancing knowledge and in presenting it to the public (which we see in primary source material) and the distinctive evaluation of practitioners toward their peers. At the same time, they are taught the fundamentals of history, methods used and the chronological and comparative ways in which history is pursued. Thus they look at the example of genetics in the early and then again in the late twentieth century to see how very differently creative people worked to understand heredity when the questions and the tools were different even as they see how historians understand the explain these differences.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

The issue of originality and of perspective is discussed in the assigned readings and in the written work that they produce. Because the class typically has a good mix of students from CLA, CBS, and IT, there is often useful discussion about how knowledge is viewed and pursued across the disciplines that they represent.

- Have acquired skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

This course emphasizes the development of written and oral communication, essential for participation in democratic society. Because students often bring in current newspaper articles or other materials that relate to topics in the class, they begin to see how history and their own lives are interconnected. The history itself demonstrates that public engagement has often been essential in framing and evaluating scientific and technological activities.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

All class work is framed within discussions of ethics that often bring us to the present - including the relationship between early eugenics efforts to improve the biology of society as this is expressed in discussions about individual and group choices relating to cloning, stem cells, and genetic disease detection. The course is intended to let them see the longer-term origins of the issues that do and will face them in our scientifically and technologically attuned society. Knowing that they can, in fact, uncover the basic scientific work that is being done in a way sufficient to make decisions about it is, I think, essential in the twenty-first century. Time will tell.

Liberal Education
Requirement
this course fulfills:		 HIS Historical Perspectives
Other requirement
this course fulfills:		 CIV Civic Life and Ethics
Criteria for
Core Courses:		 Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed core requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or method.

Core courses must meet the following requirements:

  • They explicitly help students understand what liberal education is, how the content and the substance of this course enhance a liberal education, and what this means for them as students and as citizens.
  • They employ teaching and learning strategies that engage students with doing the work of the field, not just reading about it.
  • They include small group experiences (such as discussion sections or labs) and use writing as appropriate to the discipline to help students learn and reflect on their learning.
  • They do not (except in rare and clearly justified cases) have prerequisites beyond the University's entrance requirements.
  • They are offered on a regular schedule.
  • They are taught by regular faculty or under exceptional circumstances by instructors on continuing appointments. Departments proposing instructors other than regular faculty must provide documentation of how such instructors will be trained and supervised to ensure consistency and continuity in courses.

 Historical Perspective     
    History is a window on human dynamics in particular settings, allowing us to understand decision making under quite specific circumstances even as we watch how such decisions play out overtime.  In this course, you will undertake a number of assignments using on-line materials that present visual and textual primary sources that you will use for historical analysis.  Your own conclusions may or may not coincide closely with secondary readings assigned for class, and we will discuss how sources, historiographical methods, and the outlook of the historian may influence conclusions about historical events.  Our readings will also allow us to evaluate the variety of ways history is written, and they will include biography, case studies, and even advocacy accounts using historical materials in order to build critical skills for reading history.  
Criteria for
Theme Courses:		 Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed theme requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or methods.

Theme courses have the common goal of cultivating in students a number of habits of mind:
  • thinking ethically about important challenges facing our society and world;
  • reflecting on the shared sense of responsibility required to build and maintain community;
  • connecting knowledge and practice;
  • fostering a stronger sense of our roles as historical agents.


 Civic Life and Ethics
    The course meets the Liberal Education requirement for Civic Life and Ethics because woven throughout the course, in every unit, there is a discussion of the way in which normative, legal, and professional ethics intersect with the policies and practice of science.  The class will consider how, in the increasing professionalization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, professional organizations began to elaborate codes of ethics, and then each student finds a code of ethics that relates directly to his or her career aspirations (typically engineering, science, medicine, as well as education, journalism and other fields).  These are brought to class for a discussion of common characteristics and the particularities relating to particular professional arenas. One major component of the class is a group ethics project in which students investigate an actual historical case (such as Pinto, Tuskegee, and Challenger), do an in-class presentation and a final written paper that explicitly discusses the ethical issues and outcomes.  In our final class discussion of contemporary issues in science and technology, we will talk about how ethics, personal and social, play into the decisions being made today.
LE Recertification-Reflection Statement:
(for LE courses being re-certified only) 		<no text provided>
Statement of Certification: This course is certified for a Core, effective as of 
This course is certified for a Theme, effective as of 
Writing Intensive
Propose this course
as Writing Intensive
curriculum:		 Yes
Question 1 (see CWB Requirement 1): How do writing assignments and writing instruction further the learning objectives of this course and how is writing integrated into the course? Note that the syllabus must reflect the critical role that writing plays in the course.

 Writing is one way of students finding out what they know, and it is also a way of communicating knowledge and insights to others.  Thus writing helps students learn the material presented to them, helps them formulate and express their own ideas about primary source materials (the microthemes), and requires them to do recall and formulation on exams.
Question 2 (see CWB Requirement 2): What types of writing (e.g., research papers, problem sets, presentations, technical documents, lab reports, essays, journaling etc.) will be assigned? Explain how these assignments meet the requirement that writing be a significant part of the course work, including details about multi-authored assignments, if any. Include the required length for each writing assignment and demonstrate how the minimum word count (or its equivalent) for finished writing will be met.

 Students in this class do an intake assignment (1 page), five or six microthemes (350 words; 8 pages), a group research project (10-15 pages), two essay exams, and smaller, in class assignments that are simply graded with check plus, check, or check minus.  One microtheme is peer reviewed and another is TA reviewed before final submission.  The group project is one that they do collaboratively in terms of writing and revising, and the penultimate version is read and graded by the faculty member and TA and then given back for final revisions.
Question 3 (see CWB Requirement 3): How will students' final course grade depend on their writing performance? What percentage of the course grade will depend on the quality and level of the student's writing compared to the percentage of the grade that depends on the course content? Note that this information must also be on the syllabus.

 As suggested, the two are not readily separable.  At least a half of the grade (exams, group paper, smaller written papers) is tightly connected with the writing assignments.
Question 4 (see CWB Requirement 4): Indicate which assignment(s) students will be required to revise and resubmit after feedback from the instructor. Indicate who will be providing the feedback. Include an example of the assignment instructions you are likely to use for this assignment or assignments.

 GUIDELINES for ETHICS PROJECT PAPERS
    
Purpose of Project
    This assignment is a team project that will involve several weeks of activity interspersed with other course work.  Our course is designed to meet the Citizenship and Public Ethics requirement, and this project is intended to give you an opportunity to see how some of the more abstract ideas and the codes of ethics that we have discussed apply in the project you collectively investigate and on which you report to the class. It is an opportunity to evaluate the actions of professionals as they do their work in real life. You will do research using primary (contemporary newspapers, manuscripts) and secondary sources (recent historians or other commentators) that reveal where clear ethical concerns emerged that related to science or engineering practice. Your assignment is to determine how problems developed, what public and professional outcomes occurred, and what conclusions may be drawn.  

Schedule of Activities
    We will follow a schedule, below, to enable you to work with your team, to develop your project, and to present it.  You will together do an in-class presentation and write a paper that will allow for somewhat greater detail and a nuanced discussion of issues. This assignment is a collaboration in which everyone makes a significant contribution and everyone is responsible for the quality of the final project.

Section 002
John and Lillian Gilbreth (Sept. 29)
German medical experimentation (Nuremberg Trials) (Oct. 13
Franck Report (Nov.  10)
Section 003
German chemical patents and DuPont (Sept. 29)
Boulder Dam  (Oct. 27)
International Geophysical Year (Nov. 10)
Section 004
German chemical patents and DuPont (Sept. 29)
Dneiper Dam (Oct. 27)
Tuskegee (Nov. 24)

Issues to be Addressed
    Because your topics are sufficiently different, there is no one formula that can govern all of the possibilities.  However, it will be important that you consider of the following questions and decide how to include them in your presentation and, perhaps, in more detail in your final paper.

1) What are the specifics of the case and situation?  Be sure to do solid research that involves looking at multiple approaches to the case so that, for example, newspaper sensationalism is offset by formal agency reports, autobiographical reminiscences, and other sources.

2) What is the larger context?  This is a �history� piece that considers the context that precedes and surrounds the event you are studying. You will want to consider the social, cultural, political, economic and other factors that seem to play into the decisions that were made.  It is important to ground your event in its time and place to see what range of choices were available to the participants.

3) Who are the key individuals?  Ethical decisions are made by people and we want to learn more about the people involved, if we can.  While institutions can (and do) either encourage ethical behavior or elide the question of ethics, nonetheless it is individuals who ultimately decide what they will do.

4) What are the core ethical issues?  What factors inhibited ethical behavior?  What were the ethical principles and perhaps legal requirements that were or should have been in place?

5) What was the outcome in terms of ethics?  

Audience
    Your presentation and paper should be a college-level audience concerned with science and technology issues. You are writing to alert them to the ethical issues faced by those who have careers in the field because many of them may face similar dilemmas in their own careers.

Format for Oral Presentation
    Your presentation must involve all members of the group.  You should use a format that allows for the audience to see how decisions were made by individuals and groups.  In the past, successful presentations have often been more than a series of mini-lecture. Some have involved, for example, a mock news presentation and interviews with key players, a short play reinacting the critical moments of a decision with a voice-over introduction and conclusion, and a government hearing.  You will have just ten minutes for the presentation and ten to fifteen minutes for discussion and questions from the class.  To ensure that you stay within the time limit, be sure to do one or more practice sessions.

Format for the Final Paper
    The final paper should be ten to fifteen pages in length.  You will find it useful to have subheadings in a paper with several potential elements (these might identify narrative of the event, scientific and public reactions at the time, subsequent analysis by experts, and so forth, although other organizational schemes could work equally well).  The paper should have a clear title and list all the contributors, along with the date and class information.  Most historians use the Chicago Manual of Style or its short version produced by Kate Turabian for the bibliography.  Use footnotes to cite your sources and to add useful definitions or other useful information that might be distracting in the text.  You should save notes, outlines, and drafts written by individuals to submit with two copies of your draft paper and these will be part of a final portfolio submitted at the end of the project, along with three copies of the paper.  

    The presentations and the final papers will be submitted throughout the course.  The oral presentation dates are above. The penultimate drafts of the related papers are due, complete and with bibliography and any images, within one week after the presentation.  We will have them back to you within a week.  You then have one week to work with your team to answer questions, improve the text and respond to any other issues. We will anticipate that with a thorough revision by all members of the team, it will improve substantially.  It is to your advantage to have a strong early drafts so that others can help you strengthen your ideas and presentation.  
    
    We will note an initial grade on the draft submission, a draft that should have been proofread and reviewed by all group members.

Evaluation
    As noted on the syllabus, the group project is 20% of your final grade.  The oral presentation is 5%.  There will also be an opportunity to describe and evaluate the contribution of group members.
Question 5 (see CWB Requirement 5): What types of writing instruction will be experienced by students? How much class time will be devoted to explicit writing instruction and at what points in the semester? What types of writing support and resources will be provided to students?

 The evaluation is foremost about their ideas, next about formulation of those ideas using the standards of organization (topic sentences, logical development of ideas, use of evidence, awareness of complexity), as well as attention to conventions of writing that are fundamental for written communication.  
Question 6 (see CWB Requirement 6): If teaching assistants will participate in writing assessment and writing instruction, explain how will they be trained (e.g. in how to review, grade and respond to student writing) and how will they be supervised. If the course is taught in multiple sections with multiple faculty (e.g. a capstone directed studies course), explain how every faculty mentor will ensure that their students will receive a writing intensive experience.

 As indicated, the TAs for this course taking a grading course from the Writing Center.  I review all written assignments that have been graded by the TA before they are returned to students.
Statement of Certification: This course is certified as Writing Internsive effective  as of 
Course Syllabus
Course Syllabus: For new courses and courses in which changes in content and/or description and/or credits are proposed, please provide a syllabus that includes the following information: course goals and description; format;structure of the course (proposed number of instructor contact hours per week, student workload effort per week, etc.); topics to be covered; scope and nature of assigned readings (text, authors, frequency, amount per week); required course assignments; nature of any student projects; and how students will be evaluated. The University "Syllabi Policy" can be found here

The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards for Semester Conversion" found here. Course syllabus information will be retained in this system until new syllabus information is entered with the next major course modification. This course syllabus information may not correspond to the course as offered in a particular semester.

(Please limit text to about 12 pages. Text copied and pasted from other sources will not retain formatting and special characters might not copy properly.)


 (DRAFT, NOVEMBER 2014)

HSCI 2333V (FALL, 2015)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY

Instructors:
Professor Sally Gregory Kohlstedt         TA       
204B Pillsbury Hall (East Bank)        152 Shepherd Labs        
Phone: 612-624-9368        612-626-8722       
Email: sgk@umn.edu       
Office hours: T10-12, by appt.        Office hours:

Lectures:  MW 1:25-2:15

Discussion Sections (3)
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3

Course Description:       
Science and technology are everywhere in our world today.  How did science and technology become such ubiquitous and powerful aspects of American industry, government policy, public life, and international negotiation?  What are the responsibilities of scientists and engineers who play a critical role in such a critical role?  How can the public position itself to provide encouragement and insight into the work?  This course is intended to examine these questions by exploring historical case studies that highlight ethical, political, and social issues that give meaning to and in turn are shaped by science and technology.  Beginning with the role of scientists as professional experts in the Progressive era, we consider how ideals of scientific management impacted animal lives and workers= bodies.  Fundamental concepts of expertise and control were intimately linked and extended broadly to human society.  Using eugenics as an example, we will reflect upon the interplay between science and social concerns and the legacy of eugenics in light of contemporary genetic testing.  Technology, too, seemed to offer great promise during the interwar years. We will compare large-scale engineering projects in the Soviet Union and the United States to understand how science and technology were promoted and implemented. This course meets the historical perspectives, citizenship and public ethics, and writing intensive requirements as defined by the Council on Liberal Education.  They are important because they will help you continue to build critical tools for your work at the university as well as ways to evaluate and create knowledge beyond your intended career area.

Civic Life and Ethnics:
        Not everyone was equally enthusiastic about the futuristic visions of the 1939 New York World⿿s Fair, for example, and existing realities of the depression led some to question the impact of technology. Yet the unprecedented applications of science in World War II furthered faith in science and technology and created a highly productive era of Abig science.@  Military patronage had implications for research directions and created a climate of secrecy within even a democratic society, as witnessed by human radiation experiments and nuclear testing.  Citizens struggled to find policies and practices that continue technological and genetic innovations but limit the risks and sometimes inhumane outcomes.  Issues of individual and group ethical behavior and accountability will be a continuing theme in the course. In assigned readings and class discussions, we will examine the emergence of ethical codes, discuss ethical issues in each unit, and incorporate ethical evaluation into your team projects.  

Historical Thinking
Historical explanations change over time. The discovery of unanticipated sources, different questions generated by a new generation of historians or those with a distinctive outlook, and the concerns of those sponsoring historical research shape those explanations. One goal of this course is to teach you about historical methods and to provide you with critical tools to evaluate the historical commentary you encounter on a regular basis. You will consider primary documents and learn to evaluate secondary sources, sometimes in comparative terms. Assignments will require students to consider the intellectual, social, political, economic, and private components that have guided the practice of science and those who are responsible for those choices.

Writing Component:
        Writing is an important way to learn and to communicate. You will have opportunities to write a variety of assignments designed to enhance your skills, including peer review that benefits you and your student colleagues.  Short microthemes and response papers are intended to help you read and analyze visual content and to communicate what you discover. Writing well is also highly correlated with professional career achievement. One microtheme will be based on a visit to the Mill Museum looking at re-presented history as experience.
        In addition to this individual writing, you will be part of a team to produce a longer research paper, with an in-class presentation, that will investigating a historical event and reflect on the behavior of participants and ethical issues. A proposal will be required and some of these papers will involve 1-2 revisions. All of these assignments are intended to help you deepen your understanding of history and historical writing and continually enhance your writing, speaking and presentational abilities.  

Requirements
        Students will be expected to complete readings as assigned on the syllabus and come prepared to discuss these in class or to participate in on-line discussions or postings.  Five (of six) microtheme assignments (20%), an oral presentation and written group project (20%), as well as an hour exam (20%) and a final exam (20%); there may also be brief in-class writing tasks throughout the course.  Written assignments are due at the beginning of the specified class period.  Class participation will be included as part of the overall evaluation of each student in the class based on contributions during the lecture class in smaller sections (20%).  Because attendance is important for discussion, three absences will mean that your grade is reduced by one letter grade.  Short written work for lecture and discussion groups may get a check, check plus, or check minus and these will be folded into the class participation grade. Late assignments will be reduced in grade. An incomplete in the course is possible only in unusual circumstances and with an explanation documented in writing.

Courtesy in the Classroom
        When you join a class, you make an implicit contract with the instructors and your fellow students to be on time to class, to listen when others are speaking, to turn off cell phones, and to use any electronic devices only to further classroom work and not for personal communication with others outside the class.
        At all times our learning community will be engaged and respectful, inquiring, and compassionate.  Arrive on time, take off coats and turn off cell phones before entering the room.  Listen when others are speaking.  Be present in body and mind.  Do not use electronic devices unless the classroom exercise calls for you to do so. Those with a care giver or first responder obligations who are subject to emergency notification should inform the instructor before class. Accommodation letters are requested as soon as possible from those requesting learning or physical ability accommodations, and these concerns can be discussed throughout the semester.
        Observation of religious holidays that conflicts with course requirements as stated on this syllabus should be discussed prior to relevant dates (first day of class excepted).  Other approved or legitimate absences as defined by the University can be made up (see http://policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education /Education/makeupwork.html.
        Integrity is your most valuable asset. Do your own original work on assignments and tests. Cite other as appropriate.  Start early on assignments and in test preparation.  Read and view everything assigned, attend all classes, and synthesize knowledge by writing down what you learned during the class and activities. Advance consultation with the instructor or teaching assistant is your best strategy when in doubt about how to proceed with an assignment.

Requirements
Complete readings as assignments on the syllabus and come prepared to discuss those in class or in online discussions or postings.
        20%        Microtheme writing assignments (20% each; lowest microtheme score will be dropped)
        20%        Group Ethics Project/Paper
        20%         Mid-term exam
        20%         Final exam
        20%         Participation
       
A = 93-100; A- = 90-92; B+ = 87-89; B = 83-86; B- = 80-82; C+ = 77-79; C = 73-36; C+ = 70-72; D= = 67-69; D = 60-66; F = 0-59

You are automatically registered for the HSCI 233V Moodle site as part of this class. Non-textbook assigned readings and resources are posted on that site. To the extent possible, materials used in class will be posted.  Please note that the instructor does not post lecture or discussion notes online; you are expected to take your own. The best notes are taken by rephrasing and synthesizing information rather than word-for-word transcription.

NOTE: Submissions will be reduced by one letter grade for each day late. An overall evaluation of each students⿿ participation in class will include contributions in lecture and discussion (active listening, speaking, facilitating an engaged and respective environment), short in-class writing assignments, occasional pop quizzes, and attendance.  In-class may get a check, check plus, or check minus; these will be folded into the class participation grade.  Microthemes are due at the start of the class on the day assigned unless otherwise noted. An incomplete in the course is possible only in unusual circumstances, with explanation documented in writing. Tests may not be made up except under exceptional circumstances.  On testing days, no tests will be handed out to latecomers who arrive after the first student has completed the test and left the room.  No electronic devices or notes are permitted during tests without prior consent.

Required texts:

Loren Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union         (Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 1994).
Sally Gregory Kohlstedt/David Kaiser, eds., Science and the American Century: Readings from Isis
        (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013).
Diane B. Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, 1895 to the Present (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities        Press International, 1995).

Other Readings

Chapters from other books and primary source materials will also be available on the Moodle site (moodle.umn.edu) in which you are automatically registered as part of this class.  Some assigned readings will be posted to that site, as will other course assignments.  The short PowerPoint class presentation will also be posted after the class, usually within a day but note that these are no substitute for your own in-class notes that record in your own words the discussion in class and your own intellectual engagement with it.  Online assignments will be posted on that site as well, but you can also find them at http://www1.geo.umn.edu/scitech/assign/index.html .



Assignments and Outline for HSCI 2333V

INTRODUCTION

Sept. 9        Welcome, introductions, and background
*Discuss microthemes:  Microtheme #1 is a one page, single spaced report on a public lecture or exhibit, may be done any time before Thanksgiving break. It should be submitted within one week of event. See the HST Program colloquium options at www.hst.umn.edu/events/colloquia, but ask about other specific talks as well.

Sept. 11/12 Science and Technology in Historical Perspective
Reading: Hughes, American Genesis, pp. 13-52

I.  MODERNISM AND PUBLIC LIFE

Sept. 14 Experts, Education, and Industry
Reading handout: David Noble, American by Design, pp. 1-49

Sept. 16 Inventors and Expertise
S&AC:  Daniel W. Schneider, ⿿Local Knowledge, environmental Politics, and the Founding of Ecology in the United States⿝
Moodle: Electricity video segment
Microtheme #2 Online assignment:  Reading Images DUE

Sept. 17-18 Optimism and Anxiety
Ethics projects discussed and teams assigned

Sept. 21 The World of Tomorrow (film clips)

Sept. 23 Taylorism, Technocrats and Scientism in the Early Twentieth Century
Reading: Hughes, pp. 248-284

Sept. 24/25 Peer Review
Assignment: Bring 3 copies of bibliography, outline, and summary for Group Ethics Project

Sept. 29 Darkening Clouds: Scientific/Technological Optimism
Read S&AC: Philip J. Pauly, ⿿The Beauty and Menace of the Japanese Cherry Trees⿝ and Paul S. Sutter, Nature⿿s Agenda or Agents of Empire?⿝

II. ENGINEERING LIFE

Sept. 30 Theory and Practice of Eugenics
Moodle:  Diane Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, pp. 1-71.
Microtheme #3: Popularizing Eugenics

Oct. 1/ 2 Ethics surrounding life and health
Moodle: Susan Lederer, ⿿Political Animals:  The Shaping of Biomedical Research Literature in Twentieth-Century America⿝

Oct. 5 Speaker from Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Oct. 7 Tomorrow⿿s Children (film)

Oct.  8/9 Eugenics and the New Biology
Classes will meet at Wangensteen Library, 5th floor, Diehl Hall (East Bank)

Oct. 12 Midterm Exam (on units I and II)

III. TECHNOCRATIC OPTIMISM IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS

Oct. 14 Engineering in Service to the Nation
Reading: Graham, Ghost of the Executed Engineer, pp. 1-65

Oct. 15/16 No regular class but you will spend two or three hours visiting the Mill Museum on West River Road north of campus (free passes will be provided)

Oct. 19 Valley of the Tennessee (film)
Microtheme #4  Mill Museum Assignment DUE

Oct. 21 The Great Competition: American and Soviet Engineering Projects
Reading:  Graham, complete

Oct. 22/23 Values of Comparative History

Oct. 26 Ethics Reports:  Agencies and Ethics
Microtheme #5 The Race for Space

Oct. 28 Ethics Reports:  Corporations and Ethics

Oct. 27/28 Peer review session on ethics reports

IV. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOT AND COLD WAR

Nov. 2 Science and Warfare
Reading: Individuals and Institutions in the Atomic Era
S&AC: Wellerstein, ⿿Patenting the Bomb⿝  

Nov. 4 Post-War Science and the Goal of Internationalism
Reading handout: Jessica Wang, ACompeting Political Visions for Postwar Science@ from American Science in an Age of Anxiety
S&AC: W. Patrick McCray, ⿿Amateur scientists, the International Geophysical Year, and the Ambitions of Fred Whipple⿝

Nov. 5/6 World War II, Science, and Ethics
S&AC: David Kaiser, ⿿Nuclear Democracy⿝
The Day after Trinity (film)

Nov. 9 Emerging American Research Priorities
Reading: Vannevar Bush, ⿿Science: The Endless Frontier⿝

Nov. 11 The Day after Trinity (film)

Nov. 12/13 Science and the Cold War
Microtheme 6:  On-line Assignment Space Race DUE

V.  SCIENCE AND SOCIETY IN THE LAST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Nov. 16 Reports:  Ethics and Expertise

Nov. 18 Reports:  Ethics and Expertise

Nov. 19/20 Ethics in the Professions
Assignment: Hand in Ethics Code for your field with an evaluative paragraph

Nov. 23 Social Sciences and Social Service
S& AC:  Ellen Herman, ⿿Families Made by Science⿝ and John Jackson, Jr. ⿿Blind Law and Powerless Science⿝

Nov. 25 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Microtheme #1 (report on visit to a public lecture) DUE.

VI. Technoscience and Public Life

Nov. 30 Biology and Genetics
S&AC:  Joshua Blu Buhs, ⿿The Fire Ant Wars⿝ and Sally Smith Hughes, ⿿Making Dollars Out of DNA⿝

Dec. 2 Gattaca
Watch Gattaca Part I on Moodle; the last portion will be played in class for discussion

Dec. 3/4 Medical Privacy
Microtheme 7: Forensic DNA Fingerprinting DUE

Dec. 7 Biology and Genetics
Reading: Paul Berg, et al., ⿿Summary statement of the Asilomar Conference on Recombinent DNA Molicule⿝ (1975) and Donald Frederickson, ⿿Asilomar and Recombinent DNA:  The End of the Beginning⿝ from Biomedical Politics  

Dec.   9 Challenges and Possibilities of Biomedical Research
S&AC: Brianna Rego, ⿿The Polonium Brief⿝

Dec. 10/11 Who is in Charge?  Science, Engineering, and Public Policy
S&AC:  Catherine Westfall, ⿿Rethinking Big Science⿝
Ethics film and commentary (20 minutes)

Dec. 14 Review (cumulative, comparative over time and in geopolitical terms, changes and consistency in ethical standards)

Dec. 16 Exam with short-answer IDs (50 minutes)

Final Exam is a take home essay due on December 19 at noon (12 pm) via email to sgk@umn.edu.


Appendix on Student Services

Writing-Intensive courses
Undergraduate students are required to pass four Writing-Intensive (WI) courses in addition to a course in first-year writing. All WI courses assign formal writing and include instruction on the written aspect of those assignments. These formal assignments will be in addition to any informal, exploratory writing or in-class exams assigned in the course, and will include at least one for which students will revise a draft after receiving comments from the instructor. Grades assigned in WI courses are substantially influenced by the quality of the writing produced.

Student Writing Support
The Center for Writing⿿s Student Writing Support (SWS) is available to all students at any stage in their writing process. Students can schedule up to two consultation sessions each week.

Writing Resources
        Student Writing Support (SWS) offers free writing instruction for all University of Minnesota students⿿graduate and undergraduate⿿at all stages of the writing process. In face-to-face and online collaborative consultations, SWS consultants help students develop productive writing habits and revision strategies.
SWS consultants are teachers of writing: graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants and professional staff. Some consultants specialize in working with non-native speakers, and others have experience with writing in specific disciplines.

Consulting is available in available by appointment online and in Nicholson Hall, and on a walk-in basis in Appleby Hall. More information: http://writing.umn.edu/sws | 612.625.1893

In addition, SWS offers a number of web-based resources on topics such as avoiding plagiarism, documenting sources, and planning and completing a writing project. See http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quick_help.htm.

University Libraries:
The ultimate resource for research, the University library has five major facilities and eleven branch sites with a wealth of reference materials, online resources, books, articles, newspapers, microforms, government documents, maps and more.  Librarians are available and happy to help orient students to all aspects of the library system, and there is a page with useful links at www.lib.umn.edu if you go to the course page and enter our course: HSCI 3333.

You may find general research assistance at http://tutorial.lib.umn.edu. The library tutorial, QuickStudy, is a self-paced tutorial covering the research process at the University of Minnesota Libraries. It starts with selecting a topic for a paper and ends with citing sources for a bibliography. Through this tutorial, students can also learn how to use RefWorks (www.lib.umn.edu/site/refworks.phtml). RefWorks is a web-based citation manager that allows you to create your own databases of citations by importing references from MNCAT (the library catalog) and other databases or by entering them using a template. RefWorks automatically generates bibliographies in all major styles (MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, etc.) in seconds, and then exports them as several document types (Word, RTF, HTML, etc.).

Hands-on research tutorials with a research librarian are also available.  Sign up at http://www.lib.umn.edu/registration. These workshops focus on effectively using MNCAT, the library catalogs, the Expanded Academic Index, and more.

The library website also has an assignment calculator at http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/. This tool allows students to break down any assignment for any course into manageable steps. After entering a due date and the academic department in which the course is being offered, students are given a series of suggested stages and deadlines to follow as they complete the assignment--the newest version of this tool will even provide email reminders if students request it.

University of Minnesota Counseling & Consulting Services
109 Eddy Hall (612.624.3323) http://www.ucs.umn.edu/
UCCS helps students with their concerns and offers an opportunity to talk with an experienced counselor who can help students select and achieve goals for personal and career development. The center offers three types of counseling: personal counseling, academic counseling, and career counseling. The Learning and Academic Skills Center offers classes, workshops, and individual assistance aimed at helping students achieve academic goals.

Standard Statement on Course Requirements

1. The two major grading systems used are the A-F and S-N.   Departmental majors must take major courses on the A-F system; non-majors may use either system.  The instructor will specify criteria and achievement levels required for each grade. All students, regardless of the system used, will be expected to do all work assigned in the course, or its equivalent as determined by the instructor. Any changes you wish to make in the grading base must be done in the first two weeks of the semester.
2. The instructor will specify the conditions, if any, under which an "Incomplete" will be assigned instead of a grade. An "I" grades will automatically lapse to "F" at the end of the next semester of a student's registration, unless an instructor agrees to submit a change of grade for a student during a subsequent semester to maintain the grade as an "I".
3. Inquiries regarding any changes of grade should be directed to the instructor of the course; you may wish to contact the Student Dispute Resolution Center (SDRC) in 321 CMU (625-5900) for assistance.
4. Students are responsible for all information disseminated in class and all course requirements, including deadlines and examinations. The instructor will specify whether class attendance is required or counted in the grade for a class.
5. A student is not permitted to submit extra work in an attempt to raise his or her grade, unless the instructor has specified at the outset of the class such opportunities will be afforded to all students.
6. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the right of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work."
7. Students with disabilities that affect their ability to participate fully in class or to meet all course requirements are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the instructor so that appropriate accommodations can be arranged. Further information is available from Disabilities Services (30 Nicholson Hall).
8. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the December 1998 policy statement, available at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Questions or concerns about sexual harassment should be directed to this office, located in 419 Morrill Hall.

You may contact SDRC at 625-5900 for more information on the above services or to find out if any would be helpful in solving your problem.
Strategic Objectives & Consultation
Name of Department Chair
Approver:		 Susan D. Jones
Strategic Objectives -
Curricular Objectives:		 How does adding this course improve the overall curricular objectives ofthe unit?

 Replacing current course Honors 3333V with this 2000-level course: Honors HSCI 2333V
Strategic Objectives - Core
Curriculum:		 Does the unit consider this course to be part of its core curriculum?

 Replacing current course Honors 3333V with this 2000-level course: Honors HSCI 2333V
Strategic Objectives -
Consultation with Other
Units:		 In order to prevent course overlap and to inform other departments of new curriculum, circulate proposal to chairs in relevant units and follow-up with direct consultation. Please summarize response from units consulted and include correspondence. By consultation with other units, the information about a new course is more widely disseminated and can have a positive impact on enrollments. The consultation can be as simple as an email to the department chair informing them of the course and asking for any feedback from the faculty.

 Replacing current course Honors 3333V with this 2000-level course: Honors HSCI 2333V