Astronomy 347 Science and Controversy in Astronomy Fall 2007

Lecture Notes

Syllabus

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Pre-/Co- requisites: Astr121 or Astr124.

• If you are taking this class as ASTR577 please see me.

Textbook: None required. We will rely on some readings which will be downloaded from the Toolkit (in PDFs) and possibly handouts in class. Whenever possible the original texts will be on reserve in Brown library.

Content: This course is intended to develop and exercise your scientific thinking skills largely by way of a 'case-study' approach of analyzing scientific controversies from the past and present (and future?) primarily taken from astronomy and related fields. In the process we will touch on the methods of science, how science does and does not work, the role of evidence, identifying pseudo-science, biases, skepticism, and several "fringe" topics. Some basics of statistics and their importance in measurements and observations, an essential component of modern science, might also be covered.

I intend the format of the classes to be part lecture and part discussion, and the coursework will consist mostly of writing with a small amount of minimal mathematics (algebra at most). The astronomy or science details are not the focus, and I will try to cover any background information as necessary.

Grading: Your grade for this class has the following components:

1. 10% - Class participation via short in-class "exercises".
2. 50% - 5 Homework problem sets: roughly bi-weekly, will usually be short essay formats with the (very) occasional quantitative exercise.
3. 10% - In class debate. This will be done in small groups. We will discuss the format and topics in class.
4. 30% - Final paper: apply the methods and skills we've discussed in class to a different topic (one not covered in detail in class - we can discuss possible topics later). Due date: Monday, Dec 10th.

Some nitty-gritty: Writing assignments will be scored with letter grades, quantitative assignments scored with points which are then converted to a letter. Individual assignments may be curved a bit as necessary, more so for any quantitative assignments, although I dislike making any large shifts. The final grade will then be the straight average of the different categories (above) without any curving at that stage.

Make-ups: The in-class exercises are designed to not be made-up; there will be many of them and they are scored essentially as work done/not done. Missing one or two due to illness, sudden emergency, job interview, etc., should not impact your final grade. If you are going to miss a series of classes for any reason please see me as soon as possible. The home work and final project have firm deadlines, and my policy is that for every day they are late it is an automatic 10% reduction in the score. Again, if you have some unusual circumstances please let me know as soon as possible.

Honor Code: The Honor Code is observed in this class. As discussion and debate are important elements in the scientific process, it is perfectly fine to consult with each other on homework and projects. However, I expect that each person will submit his/her own work.

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