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project – final essay The Individual Project will be your last word about science and popular culture at the end of the term, and is intended to help you integrate the course material by choosing a topic that fits with your own particular interests as a final focal point. In passing out the guidelines for the final assignment now, I want to encourage you to select an area for your individual project as early as possible. I also encourage you to meet with me at any point in your project – in figuring out which area to pick, or after you’ve done some initial research, or when you have begun writing it up . . . or all of these times! How you organize and write up the material for your Individual Project is up to you – there is no set framework, except for the following requirements: 1) I would like you to have an introduction that gives an overview of how the theme of science and popular culture is related to your topic, which you will then explain (about 1-1½ pp.) and also a Conclusion that not only sums up your thoughts about your project but also offers reflections, from a more general perspective, of what you think the relationships between science and popular culture will be in the next generation or so, as an outgrowth of your project and/or the class in general (about 1 p.). Below are the basic options for the Individual Project. I’ve tried to render them roughly equivalent in the amount of time that I think they would take. You can further individualize these topics, or create a topic of your own, and I encourage you to try your own hand at customizing your final project (just be sure to run it by me for approval). Note: Looking for movie info? Try imdb.com. Images of Science / Scientists 1. We have touched on the "image of scientists" in films, and have generated some common characteristics that typify the scientist in this popular medium. But what about the image of female scientists on film? For a long time, it has not been the case that it is a woman that would be called to mind when you think of "the average scientist". So how has Hollywood chosen to portray female scientists? For this option, choose two films to examine with a female scientist or engineer as a major figure, and describe the key characteristics of this individual. You will also then compare and contrast the films with each other, and with the stereotyped images of male scientists. Some examples of relevant films would be: Charly (1968) 2. If you’re looking for common images about science, looking at what Hollywood puts up on the big screen is a natural place to consider. But what about all the little bits and pieces that turn up in everyday settings? That’s where the Prelinger Archive comes in. Drawing on 4-6 of the ephemeral films from the archive, find a recurring topical theme and examine it for what these films reveal about ideas about science and/or technology in their time period. Questions you can answer for the videos are: What was the purpose behind its being made?; What do you think the goals of the video are (what kinds of responses or feelings or actions might those who produced it have hoped to elicit in the audience)?; and What kinds of cultural meanings or messages about science/technology are embedded within your video, do you think? How persuasive do you think those messages may have been in their time period, and why do you think so? The website is at: http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger
3. It’s not uncommon for schools and families to visit zoos, natural history museums, science centers, and aquariums, making them some of the primary places from which children form their ideas about science and nature. Such sites seek to be both entertaining and informative, and to offer something of interest to both children and the adults who bring them. For this option, choose such a site: the Oklahoma City Zoo; the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History; the Science Museum Oklahoma in OKC; the Little River Zoo; the Arbuckle Wilderness Park; or the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, and visit it and report on it. In your project, leave enough time to examine some of the exhibits yourself and to also do some serious people-watching as well. In addition to your own questions and answers, also address the following: 1) What do you think visiting such places reveals about science and nature to children?; and 2) What do you think visiting such places reveals about science and nature to adults? 4. Did you participate in a science fair? How about your parents or grandparents? Or perhaps your dorm-mates or your lab partner did? For this option, see if you can find about three to five people (it can include yourself) to interview about the science fair experience, and do a mini-anthropological analysis of its significance: for the participants (then and later), as part of school culture, and as a wider public event. What kinds of expectations were there? Was it fun? What was it like to win or lose? Are there differences across time, if some of your informants are from different generations? What are the positives and negatives of the "science fair" as a childhood experience?
Science Fiction 5. Is there life beyond our solar system? If so, what would happen if an alien species invaded our planet? Alien visits to earth have a long history in science fiction film, and also in computer/video gaming now. Below I’ve listed groups of alien visits to earth in three time periods. Select an item from two of the time periods to compare and contrast, to see what it tells you about how the idea of aliens and us can be used to reflect on the nature of society in a particular era. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) The Andromeda Strain (1971) Independence Day (1996)
6. One of the topics taken up by science fiction writers is whether or not the changing nature of science and technology has an effect on human nature itself: What does it mean to be human? Does reliance on machines change the nature of being human? Or, conversely, how far is a modern human from the animal world? These topics are addressed in such foundational works of science fiction as Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (1950) for the former, or H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) for the latter, and have been taken up in later works of science fiction as well. Using one of these early texts as a point of comparison, choose one other work with which to compare it, and discuss how the questions and answers may have changed from the earlier time period to the later time period of the book, television series, or movie you choose. Examples would be movies such as Bladerunner (1982), or The Terminator (1984), or A.I. (2001), or Wall•E; or think of episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation about the Borg; or even Disney fare, such as The Jungle Book (1967) or Tarzan (1999).
Nature and Culture 7. Among the constants of "small talk" is conversation about the weather: "Nice day we’re having today, isn’t it?" "Do you think it’s going to rain this weekend?" "Boy, I’m sure tired of the heat!" When we think about getting at questions of nature and culture, we tend not to call the weather report to mind. For this option, your task is to find a way to explore the "idea" of weather: you might watch the different nightly weather forecasts and see how "the weather" is handled as a scientific, technological, and natural matter. How do the newscasters handle a "weather event" like a tornado warning? What do our reactions to tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes and other disasters have to tell us about how we see our place in nature? How do people view Oklahoma’s weather compared to other areas such as California or Florida? Do we expect that such differences, if any, make a difference in regional culture? In other words, come up with a strategy for gathering data on the idea of weather and use this data as the basis for a discussion of the weather and popular culture. 8. One way in which scientific findings resonate in our daily lives is through the medical/health news in the media: Should you take fish oil supplements? Is a high-protein diet plan a bad idea? and so on . . .. These questions and answers find their ways into decisions we make every week or so when we go to the grocery store, or on an everyday basis as we decide what kinds of choices to make regarding food that other people have prepared for us. Think carefully about what kinds of information or images from science, medicine, and technology intersect with a visit to the grocery or convenience store. For example, do you buy "energy" drinks? How is that "energy" conveyed on the can (what are its sources)? Do you think about whether the corn derivatives in the products you buy have been genetically modified? How do you feel about genetically modified food – would you buy it or not? Do you read labels for nutrition information? (If so, what do you attend to?) Do you buy pasteurized or unpasteurized dairy or take your yogurt with probiotics? Do you take into account the conditions that animals live in when you buy eggs or meat or fish? What about the old question: paper or plastic? Another way to chart some of the food, science, and culture issues would be to take a look at health magazines aimed at men, women, or are gender neutral, examining the articles and ads.
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