Curious about How Scientific Explanations Are Developed? A Lab-Based Class for Non-Scientists

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Every Monday • 2:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m. • Room 9

January 14, (21 holiday), 28 • February 4, 11, 18, 25 • March 4, 11, 18, 25 • April (1 holiday), 8

This course has been cancelled.

 

Pre-registration required —Lab Fee : $5. Class size is limited to 10 participants

Far back in time, scientific knowledge was simpler and often available to the everyday man and woman. Common events were explained (often not scientifically) in terms that were easily understood. Most of the current complexity in science came much later, but this modern storehouse of scientific knowledge was built upon a thousand years of simpler explanations. This year-long course will cover the following topics with an emphasis on historical roots: Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry, Engineering, Geology, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Weather and Zoology. Understanding scientific analysis is easy enough for some of the more obvious events and phenomena, but it takes some simple experimentation to grasp the true nature of the scientific world-view. For that reason, every lecture topic will have accompanying labs. Participants should be able to appreciate how the sciences developed from the observations of ordinary events (like the falling of an apple) through various explanations for those events (like “natural motion” from Aristotle to the force of gravity from Isaac Newton).

Instructor/Coordinator : Byron Yates