Essay test on outside speaker presentations and readings
Guests from outside Mason will give presentations an various aspects of science in society. They will discuss how their area of science affects people, the environment, other areas of science, business, government, and other parts of our world.
These visiting experts will choose readings for you to finish before each guest presentation. After you complete the readings you will be able to participate in the discussion that accompanies each guest presentation.
Then, after you complete the readings, listen to the presentations, take part in the discussions, and write your reaction papers (see below), you will take an essay test on the information and ideas from the guest presentations.
Reaction papers about outside speaker presentations
After each presentation and class discussion, you will each write a one-page response to that day's talk, group discussion, and readings. You must be present for each guest lecture to submit a reaction paper.
Science minor proposal and minor courses plan
After you finish all the readings, participate in the class discussions, attend the speakers' presentations, take part in the panel discussions, and meet with your advisor, you will be ready to give a formal presentation to the class about your plan for your minor in science and society. We will discuss details about this presentation during the semester. When you give your presentation in class, you will submit your annotated bibliography to me (see below).
Annotated bibliography
As part of your preparation for your minor in science and society, and the work you will do in CHSS 400 (your minor capstone course), you will create an annotated bibliography of sources that have something to do with your expected minor.
The annotated bibliography will contain at least 15 relevant sources, with at least five books and five or more articles that come from peer-reviewed publications such as journals. Also, you may use five sources from popular but professional publications. You will use APA format for this annotated bibliography.
When you write your required annotated bibliography, you will comment on how useful and appropriate your sources were. Some will help you more than others. If you use Internet sources, you will assess the websites for content and ease of use.
Consult these sources to learn more about writing annotated bibliographies.
Student-selected readings
Before almost every class meeting in the first part of the term you will select online articles to tell us about. These readings will have something to do with the discussion topic for each week from 9/2 through 10/7. You will bring a copy of your article to class as part of your preparation for that day's discussion. You will tell us about your article, and you will be ready to answer student questions or comments about your reading choice.
The readings you choose will touch on issues related to that day's discussion topic. The online readings can be in popular journals/newspapers/blogs/other or may be in professional online publications.
Class blog (in Blackboard) participation
There are seven focused questions in Blackboard. These discussion points will allow you to comment on several issues about science and society. Your responses will be thoughtful, detailed, and intelligent. Over the course of the semester you will respond to all seven online discussions.
Note that you must be in class, participating in class in the in-class discussions, to receive credit for completing the follow-up Blackboard postings.
Return to Dorothy Raffel's Fall schedule.