Introduction to the Professions

Biology, Chemistry, and Physics 100

Class Assignments

Assignment for Wednesday 3 September 2003:

Write a brief (150-300 word) essay or discussion on one of the following topics. This can be turned in by e-mail or in hard-copy by the due date.

  1. Discuss a scientific advance that was not seen to have any practical application when it was first discovered, but was later found to have substantial practical application.

  2. Argue with me. Construct an alternative definition of science and explain why you believe it to be more useful than the one I have presented in these notes.

  3. Look through recent issues of Scientific American or American Scientist (available in the library). Find an article that describing a scientific advance on the interface between two of the traditional scientific disciplines. Describe how the insights of the two disciplines combine to provide understanding.




Assignment for Wednesday 10 September 2003:

Summarize, in 250-400 words, the first five essays (chapters) in Trefil's book, 101 things you don't know about science and no one else does either. Provide details of what the author says on these topics. By this date you should have read all of the first ten essays.




Assignment for Wednesday 17 September 2003

Do one of the following: