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Week 1
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1/19 |
No Class – Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday |
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1/21 |
Intro: Where We’re Starting From, Where We’re Going,
and How We’ll Get There
>Introductory Assignment passed out |
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reading |
Excerpt from Michael Petracca and Madeleine Sorapure,
Common Culture:
Reading and Writing about American Popular Culture [handout]
Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of
the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life
(Introduction, and Afterthoughts by Rosenzweig and Thelen) online:
http://chnm.gmu.edu/survey/
(see links on righthand side of the screen)
Roslynn Haynes, "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: Why
do Scientists Have such a Bad Press?" [handout]
Atul Gawande, "The Checklist," The New Yorker,
December 10, 2007 [handout] |
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Week 2 |
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1/26 |
So What is Popular Culture Anyway? And the History of
Science? And Both Together? |
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1/28 |
Images of Scientists: Pictures at the Revolution |
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reading |
Frayling, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?, chapter 1
Standish, The Hollow Earth, chapter 1
Disney, "Mickey Mouse: The Mad Doctor"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywukfQqKX-g&feature=related
"Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky"
by Benjamin West (1816)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/franklinremix/99760623/sizes/m/
(has link to larger view)
Articles Packet Handout / Excerpt from Margaret Mead
and Rhoda Metraux, "Image of the Scientist Among High School Students"
(Science, 1957); Brian Greene, "Put a Little Science in Your
Life" (New York Times, June 1, 2008); Steve Hendrix, "Does
Father Really Know Best?" (Washington Post, June 16, 2007);
Marcus Wohlsen, "Hobbyists Try Genetic Engineering at Home" (msnbc.com,
Dec. 26, 2008) |
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Week 3 |
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2/2 |
Nineteenth-Century Images of Scientists: The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly
>Introductory assignment due |
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2/4 |
The Nineteenth Century: Detective Fiction and the
Appeal of Ratiocination
>Scientists’ Images assignment passed out |
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reading |
Poe, "The Purloined Letter,""The Mystery of Marie
Roget," "MS. Found in a Bottle" from Tales of Terror and Detection
OR Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Adventure of the Speckled
Band, "The Red-Headed League," from Six Great Sherlock Holmes
Stories
Standish, The Hollow Earth, chapters 2-3 |
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Week 4 |
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2/9 |
Twentieth-Century Images: Einstein’s Brain (and Hair)
and More / Begin Film
Video: Columbo, "A Stitch in Crime" (1973) |
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2/11 |
Finish Film
Video: Columbo, "A Stitch in Crime" (1973) |
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reading |
Standish, The Hollow Earth, chapters 4, 6
(chapters 5 and 7 optional) |
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Week 5 |
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2/16 |
The Nineteenth Century: Science Fiction and the Appeal
of Wonder
>Scientists’ Images
assignment due
>Hollow Earth
Reflection Question passed out |
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2/18 |
Nature and Culture: An Alien World under our Feet?
Science Fiction, Science Fact, and the Mysteries of the Earth
Video: La voyage dans la lune (1902) |
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reading |
Standish, The Hollow Earth, chapter 8
Frayling, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?, chapter 2 |
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Week 6 |
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2/23 |
Visualizing the Mysteries of the Deep – Part One:
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (1864, and
beyond)
Video: Film excerpts from Journey to the Center of the Earth
(1959 and 2008) |
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2/25 |
Imagining the Prehistoric World, con.: The Human
Presence |
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reading |
Start Cox, grayson, chapters 1-6 |
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Week 7 |
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3/2 |
Nature and Culture: An Alien World beneath the
Surface? Science Fiction, Science Fact, and the Mysteries of the Ocean
>Hollow Earth
reflection question due
>grayson reflection
question passed out |
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3/4 |
Visualizing the Mysteries of the Deep – Part Two: From
Parlor Aquaria to Sea World |
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reading |
Finish Cox, grayson
Theodore R. Caldwell, "A Submarine Christmas," The
Californian Illustrated (December 1893) via google books at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=g2gCAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=californian+illustrated+magazine&lr=#PPA48,M1 |
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Week 8 |
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3/9 |
Nature and Culture: The Concept of Kinship –
Discussion of grayson
>grayson reflection question due |
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3/11 |
Nature and Culture: The Concept of Kinship –
Saying Hello to the Relatives?
Video: Among the Wild Chimpanzees (1984) |
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reading |
Frayling, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?, chapter 4 |
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Week 9 |
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3/16
3/18 |
No Class – Spring Break
No Class – Spring Break |
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Week 10 |
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3/23 |
Childhood and Science Overview: Science looks at
Children; Children Look at Science
>Victorian Science and Childhood assignment passed out |
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3/25 |
Childhood Experiences with Science and Nature: the 19th
Century |
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reading |
"Little Scientists at Home in Victorian Times":
http://scipop.net/childhood.victorian_project.htm
Articles Packet Handout (20th Century) /
Science Council of British Columbia, excerpt from "Where Worlds of
Children and Science Meet," June 2000; Henry Fountain, "When Backyards
Were Laboratories" (New York Times, May 19, 2002); Richard
Monastersky, "A Leg – or 6 – Up on Science" (The Chronicle,
Sept. 2, 2005); David Brin, "Why Johnny Can’t Code" (salon.com,
2006) |
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Week 11 |
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3/30 |
Discussion of Victorian science and childhood via the
science and popular culture webproject
>Victorian Science and
Childhood assignment due
>Atomic Age
assignment passed out |
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4/1 |
Kids Enter the World of Tomorrow: Science Fiction,
World Expos, and TechnoToys
Video: "World of Tomorrow" (1985) |
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reading |
Frayling, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?, chapters
5-6 |
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Week 12 |
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4/6 |
The World of Tomorrow Arrives?: The Atomic Age
>Prelinger Archives assignment passed out |
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4/8 |
The Atomic Age, continued
Video: Disneyland, "Our Friend the Atom"
(1957) |
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reading |
Frayling, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?, pp. 82-108
of chapter 3 (the rest is optional), and conclusion
"Duck and Cover" (1951) : Prelinger Archives
http://www.archive.org/details/DuckandC1951 |
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Week 13 |
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4/13 |
Sputnik, the Mercury Seven (and the Mercury 13 – Who
Were They?), and Why Did We Stop Going to the Moon? (Or Did We Even
Really Get There?) / The Space Age and Lunar Lore
>Atomic
Age assignment due
>Yesterday’s
World of Tomorrow reflection question passed
out
Video: "Man on the
Moon" (2003), R.E.M., from Automatic for the People (1992) |
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4/15 |
No Class - Prelinger computer lab workday
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reading |
Prelinger Archives
http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger
Wilson, Where’s My Jetpack?,
chapters 1-3 |
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Week 14 |
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4/20 |
Science and the Younger Generation at Our Turn of the
Century: Similarities and Contrasts with Previous Eras |
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4/22 |
Discussion of Prelinger Projects
>Prelinger Archive assignment due |
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reading |
Wilson , Where’s My Jetpack?, chapters 4-5 |
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Week 15 |
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4/27 |
Did the World of Tomorrow Come? Discussion of
Where’s My Jetpack?
>Yesterday’s World of Tomorrow reflection question due |
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4/29 |
In-Class "Group Final" (Informal Warm-up for Papers):
Video: The Simpsons :"The Genesis Tub" (1996) |
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Week 16 |
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5/4 |
Summing Up |
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5/6 |
Project Consultations |
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Individual
Final Project Due Monday, May 11th, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
(the final exam time for this class), in PHSC 212 |
