Class Meetings: Monday and Wednesday, 1:30 P.M. – 3:18 P.M., University Hall, Room 0056

Instructor:          Sean Scheiderer                    E-mail:         scheiderer.17@osu.edu

Office:              410 Mendenhall Lab             Mail Box:   308 Dulles Hall

Office Hours:  Tuesday 1:30–3:00,                  Web Site:    sci-tech-studies.net 

DESCRIPTION
The goal of this course is to read about, think about, talk about, and finally, write about how science and technology operate within and as American culture. In order to do this, we will look at science and technology in ways that scientists and other citizens usually don’t.
We will listen to how the scientific establishment itself describes science, and then we will look to see if such is actually realized, realizable, or even desirable in practice. We will analyze the language of science in order to discover how it imagines the universe, and examine the rhetoric of science to see how it constructs its truths. Since we as a people are immersed in and dependent upon science and technology which we often have little understanding of, we will also pay attention to how non-scientists talk about these, including politicians, journalists, artists, and other popularizers as they try to bridge the gap between makers and users of science. We will see how scientific facts are made and un-made, how distinctions between “good” and “bad” science are drawn, and how the boundaries of science are established, policed, and harried. We will question the modern mythic beliefs of objectivity, progress, and truth, and explore how the hopes and fears of individuals and of society as a whole are shaped by science and technology, and vice versa.
We will conduct these interrogations mainly within the context of topical issues surrounding the shaping of our bodies, including diet, exercise, and nutritional supplementation. We will discuss the reckoning and creation of value (artistic, athletic, economic, ethical, intellectual, religious, social) involved in these and ask if there are different—maybe even better—ways for us as individuals, institutions, or a nation to practice science and develop or use technology, e.g., more effectively, more responsibly, or more equitably.

REQUIREMENTS
This is first and foremost a writing course, and you will be required to write three essays, two outside of class, and one in class as a final exam, along with some short identifications. Specific guidelines for the essays and a study guide for the final will be available on the web site. Before you can effectively make your own arguments, you will have to first learn to recognize and analyze the arguments of others. You must therefore do the reading assignments and attend class in order to discuss them. I have tried to be reasonable in the amount of reading I ask you to do in order that you can read it all and read it well, i.e., engage it, think about it, form opinions. Review questions on each reading will be available on the web site in order to help you identify the main points, and we will go over these during class discussion.
Oral expression skills is the second major component and goal of this course. Your participation grade will be based on your contribution to class and small group discussions, as well as your involvement in the online class discussion forum. I will take attendance every class, and more than two unexcused absences will affect your grade negatively, one third of a grade per missed class, e.g., from a B+ to a B. In my attendance ledger I will also make note of significant participation from individuals for each class. I also reserve the right to levy pop quizzes if I feel the class has been neglecting the reading, and these would figure into your participation grade as well.

EVALUATION

Essay #1                4 pages          25%
Essay #2                4 pages          25%     

Participation             15%
Attendance               10%