FSTF 2000 – HISTORY OF SCIENCE COURSE OUTLINE

Lecturer: Dr. Shirin Haque contact: shirin.haque@sta.uwi.edu shirin.haque@gmail.com

Class times: Mon 9 -11 (114) Wed 9-10 (412) Thurs 10-12 (TCB 21)

Course Description

This course examines the development and impact of science in society. The course begins with the
earliest scientific ideas, and progresses to science in the modern era with a focus on major contributions
from the Caribbean as well. A philosophical analysis of the advances, role, and implications of science in
society is used to study how science has changed over time, the challenges experienced by scholars to
implement these changes and how such have impacted our world. Focus will be placed also on how
knowledge progresses, ideas change and get superseded. The discussion addresses issues such as societal
attitudes toward science, the achievements of great scientists, women in science and the effect on future
generations. Some of the central questions to be addressed will include: What and who, is science for and
how has science changed over time?

Goals

The course will allow students to:

 Understand attitudes and motivation for scientific study.
 Develop an appreciation and understanding of how Science progressed and the challenges
experienced by scholars against societal pressures.
 Understand the value of science and technology in impacting lives of people.
 Develop an awareness that development of science is not a linear progression.
 Engage in discussions of how the world has changed through science and its moral and ethical
implications.
 Understand how all major cultures in the world played a role and contributed to the development
of Science.

Course Content and learning outcomes:

The course is divided into three segments, which are further divided into sections of study. The learning
outcomes are highlighted below each section

Unit 1: Prehistory to the Renaissance

Section 1.1: Introduction to the History of Science

Learning outcomes:
 Describe the motivations behind early scientific discoveries.
 Distinguish between scientist and natural philosopher.
 Discuss the scientific Philosophy of Kuhn as to how Science progresses.

Section 1.2: Early Science I: African Indigenous Science and Knowledge systems
Learning outcome:
 Recognize that Africa is the cradle of humanity dating back to 45,000 years ago.
  Assess the importance of the indigenous science to earliest societies in Africa.
 Examine the role of African contributions to food processing, medicinal plants, textiles,
metallurgy and Astronomy

Section 1.3: Early Science II: Greece

Learning outcomes:
 Assess the contribution of Classic Greek science to the scientific method.
 Explain the influence of Thales, Plato, and Aristotle on subsequent generations.
 Compare and contrast Classic Greek and modern science.

Section 1.4: Early Science III: India

Learning outcomes:
 Discuss the nature of Mathematics and evolution in geometry and logic.
 Evaluate the contributions from India to early Mathematics and Astronomy.

Section 1.5: Early Science IV: Arabia

Learning outcomes:
 Assess the contribution of Arabic science to the development of modern science.
 Evaluate the impact of Arabic Science on Europe.

Section 1.6: Early Science V: The Middle Ages

Learning outcome:
 Discuss the influence of religion and politics on early science.

Section 1.7: The Dawn of the Renaissance

Learning outcomes:
 Recognize the role of the Gutenberg press to widespread knowledge and its impact on Science.
 Assess the reaction of Renaissance society to the heliocentric solar system.

Unit 2: Copernicus to Darwin

Section 2.1: The Scientific Revolution

Learning outcomes:
 Examine how scientists interact in the development of competing ideas and models.
 Evaluate the impact of the Industrial Revolution on science and society.
 Discriminate between the Industrial and Scientific Revolution.

Section 2.2: Role and opportunities for women in Science.

Learning outcome:
 Discuss the role and opportunities for women in Science throughout the ages to the present

Section 2.3: Great Scientists I: Moving the Earth

Learning outcome:
 Describe the scientific innovations of scientists that contributed to the hypothesis of the
heliocentric solar system.

Section 2.4: Great Scientists II: Apples, Optics, and Orbits

Learning outcome:
 Summarize the scientific innovations of Isaac Newton.
Section 2.5: Great Scientists III: The Origin of Life
Learning outcomes:
 Describe the work of Darwin.
 Analyze natural selection as a mechanism for evolution and show how it has continued to be
developed.
 Discuss societal reaction to the theory of evolution.

Unit 3: Einstein to the Twenty-First Century

Section 3.1: Great Scientists IV: The Theory of Relativity

Learning outcomes:
 Summarize scientific problems in physics at the beginning of the twentieth century.
 Describe Einstein's contributions to science.
 Compare Einstein with other great scientists.

Section 3.2: Great Scientists V: Genes and Genetics

Learning outcomes:
 Explain Mendelian heredity.
 Explain the importance of the double helix discovery by Watson and Crick.

Section 3.3: Great Scientists VI: Secrets of the Atom

Learning outcomes:
 Discuss how politics can influence science.
 Analyze the role of politics and war on the development of the atomic bomb.

Section 3.4: Great Scientists VII: Medical Pioneers

Learning outcomes:
 Identify negative and positive consequences of modern medicine
 Critique society's expectations of modern medicine.

Section 3.5: Great Scientists VIII: Caribbean Scientists

Learning outcomes:
 Identify the major contribution of and the Scientists in the Caribbean
 Discuss the challenges and opportunities of being a scientist in the Caribbean

Section 3.6: Epilogue

Learning outcomes:
 Discuss how Eurocentrism has affected the teaching and learning of the history of science
 Discuss the future of science and its role and its impact on humanity

Teaching Methodology: (Summer)

Total contact hours – 35 contact hours

Lectures: 30 50-minute lectures – including short video presentations
Tutorial: 5 50-minute tutorial sessions involving group discussions.
Coursework: 100% continuous assessment.
Assessment:

(1) Coursework 1 – 25% (MCQ)

(2) Coursework 2 – 25% (short answers/ essay)
(3) Research paper – 25%
(4) Group project with presentations/ posters– 25%

Required Reading:

Essential:

Weinberg, Steven ,To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science, Harper publishers 2015.

Farndon, John The Great Scientists:  From Euclid to Stephen Hawking, London:  Arcturus Publishing
Limited. 2005

Recommended readings:

Kuhn, T.S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.

The structure of knowledge: Classifications of science and learning since the Renaissance. 
Edited by Tore Frängsmyr. 2001 (BERKELEY PAPERS IN HISTORY OF SCIENCE)

Swaby, Rachel Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science, Broadway books publisher ,
2015

Balchin, John, Quantum Leaps – 100 Scientists who changed the world, Arcturus Publishing Ltd.
2014

Crick, Francis. "The double helix: a personal view." Nature 248.5451 (1974): 766-769.

Feynman, Richard P. "What is science." The Physics Teacher 7.6 (1969): 313-320.

Feynman, Richard P. "The value of science." Engineering and Science 19.3 (1955): 13-15.

Haque, S. & Sharma, D. “Indian Astronomy - the missing Eurocentric link in history of Astronomy”
Cultural Studies in Science Education Journal. Springer Publisher. 2016 (in press)