Ellen Moody's Teaching: Addendum to Syllabus for Spring: 302 Advanced Writing on the Natural Sciences and Technology, 302N04

Dr Ellen Moody

Wed, 2/6: Short Talk 1: RFeynman, boy and young man: The Qualities that Make up the Good Scientist (SYJ, Parts 1 & 2, WDYC, Chapter 1): Sandra Mejia
Mon, 2/11: Short talk 2: RFeynman's criticisms of counterproductive uses and abuses of authority, particularly at Los Alamos (i.e., his stories about counterproductive uses of secrecy), but you may include stories exemplifying this theme from elsewhere in the book thus far (so from SYJ, Parts 2 & 3, especially "Los Alamos from Below" and "Safecracker Meets Safecracker"): Kathryn Cantoni
Mon, 2/11: Short Talk 3: RFeynman's ideas on what is real scientific learning: what ought to go on in a classroom, be in a book &c (e.g.,"O Americano Outre Vez" and "Judging Books by Their Covers" in SYJ and relevant Letters in WDYC): John Schwartzer

Wed, 2/13: Short Talk 4: RFeynman's Adventures in Areas Outside Physics: Biology, Art, Music and Anthropology ("A Map of the Cat", Always Trying to Escape", "But Is It Art?"; "O Americano Outra Vez!," "Bringing Culture to the Physicists", "Found Out in Paris", "Altered States" in SYJ, and "It's as Simple as One, Two, Three " and relevant "Letters" in WDYC): Sina Skeharat
Mon, 2/18: Short Talk 5: RFeynman's Investigations into the Conscious and Unconscious Mind and Antagonisms towards Modern Psychiatrists and Psychology ("Mee", "Always Trying to Escape", "Uncle Sam Doesn't Need You!", "Altered States" from SYJ and "It's as Simple as One Two Three" from WDYC): Ciera Jones
Mon, 2/18: Short Talk 6: Mr Feynman Goes to Washington: Why some NASA Shuttle officials are driven to delude themselves and mislead the public ("Mr Feynman Goes to Washington" and "Appendix F" in WDYC, pp. 113-227): Nick Langley

Wed, 2/20: Short Talk 7: A World of Pseudo- and Corrupt Science and the Value of Science (Feynman's "Cargo Cult Learning" and "The Value of Science," SYJ, pp. 338-46, WDYC, pp. 239-48): Zachary Wotherspoon
Mon, 2/25: Short Talk 8: 17th & 18th Century Needs and Troubles at sea (Chapters 1-4 of Sobel's Longitude): Bill Mounts
Mon, 2/25: Short Talk 9: Harrison's and others solution to the problem; the prize and Harrison's first encounters in London & sea voyage (Chs 5-8 of Sobel's Longitude): Carmen Guayo
During these sessions the class watches altogether 60 minutes of Roberts, Sturridge, & Sobel's film, Longitude.

Wed, 2/27: Short Talk 10: John Harrison's many inventions and the struggle with Nevil Maskelyne (Chs 9-11 of Sobel's Longitude): Christy Kim
Mon, 3/3: Short Talk 11: The abuse of John Harrison, Cook & mass production, and the story of Rupert Gould (Chs 12-15 of Sobel's Longitude): Katherine Sentlinger
During these sessions, the class may watch more of Roberts, Sturridge, & Sobel's film, Longitude.

Mon, 3/17: Short talk 12: The People and the History ("The Woods from Hog Wallow," "The Vanished Towns," and "The Separate World" from McPhee's The Pine Barrens): Adrienne Raiford
Wed, 3/19: Short Talk 13: The Cultural World: songs, tall tales, celebrations & rituals ("The Air Tune", "The Capital of the Pines," and "The Turn of Events" from McPhee's Pine Barrens): ______________________________
Wed, 3/19: Short Talk 14: Modern or contemporary times ("Fire in the Pines," "The Fox Handles the Day," and "Visions" from McPhee's Pine Barrens): Candice Tomlinson

The class watches the film, The Constant Gardener, plus a couple of the features (e.g., deleted scenes).

Mon, 3/31: Short Talk 15: Drug Companies, Health, and American Culture (online course materials, Marcia Angell, "The Body Hunters" and "Your Dangerous Drugstore"): Thomas Chu
Wed, 4/2: Short Talk 16: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: Describe the characters of the different narrators of the story and try to say how their telling of their part of the story shapes our experience of the novel: Sandy Woodrow, Justin Quayle, Ghita Pearson, Tom Donahue, Gloria Woodrow: Meskerem Abebe

Mon, 4/7: Short Talk 17: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: The quest and landscapes: how is Africa a central character and how it is made to appear? with comparisons of how London, Italy, Germany, and Canada are made to appear and what they stand for: Theresa Du

Wed, 4/9: Short Talk 18: LeCarre's The Constant Gardener: The themes of betrayal, regret and loss, and people's experience of the business world in the novel: Sina Simingalam

Wed, 4/16: Short Talk 19: The Problem of Having to Practice and Lack of Unbiased Review Boards (Complications, Part I, "Education of the Knife," "When Doctors Makes Mistakes," "When Good Doctors Go Bad" from Gawande's Complications): Enjoli Stith

Over the two sessions, the class watches Mike Nichols, Bosanquet and Thompson's film, Wit.

Mon, 4/28: Short Talk 21: The money obstacle ("Piecework: Medicine's Money Problem", "Sick and Twisted", "The Way We Age Now"): Khalidah Met
Wed, 4/30: Short Talk 22: The real uncertainties of medicine (Gawande's Complications, from Part II, "The Pain Perplex","The Man Who Couldn't Stop Eating", and from Part 3, "The Final Cut"): Ornela Gjata
If time permits, the class watches a feature from Constant Gardener, DVD: the African AIDS play

Short Talk 23: The Neglect of Vivian Bearing and who should decide what is done (from the film, Wit, and Gawande's chapter from Complications, Part 3, "Whose Body Is It, Anyway?"): Gurkiran Gulati

Section 302.N04: The day, time and place of the final: Mon, May 12th, 9-10:15 am, Robinson B124

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