COURSE TITLE | Contemporary Science and Innovation |
COURSE NUMBER | SCI 184 |
CREDITS | 4 credits |
MEETING TIMES | T 2:30-5:00 / A402 |
INSTRUCTOR | Dr. Shatz Office: Archer 306
Tel: 617 573-8234 |
Course objectives: This is a 4 credit freshman seminar course that explores the science of sustainability and has the students develop an experiment that teaches other Suffolk students about energy and sustainability. The goals of the course are: to provide students with a context for learning how to frame and solve complex problems using an integration of science, engineering and the humanities; how to do independent research and work in teams, and how to communicate complex scientific issues to the public by designing and building experiments.
Prerequisites: This course is introductory and does not assume prior knowledge of the subject.
Text: Beyond Smoke and Mirrors -Climate Change and Energy in the 21st Century by Burton Richter
Reference: Energy for Sustainability
ASSIGNMENTS
Sustainability: The first two months of the course will be spent exploring sustainability issues and the science of sustainability issues through experiments using Lego Mindstorm with LABVIEW software Assignments will consist of readings, blogging assignments, experiments, multiple choice questions, trips and calculations (in Blackboard). There will also be a midterm.
Service Project at Suffolk: Teaching about Sustainability: The last month of the course will be spent working in teams, along with the students of SCI 184 A on designing a laboratory exercise that relates to the science of sustainability for other Suffolk students, and your team will be the instructors for that lab which will take place at the end of the semester. You will develop a handout for the lab and you will grade the students’ work.
Blogs: You will have two weekly blogging assignments which you will post on your Suffolk blog (go to http://cas.blogs.suffolk.edu to set up your blog); one will be on the Lego Mindstorm activity and the other will be on a sustainability topic. For each assignment you are expected to not only create a blog about a particular topic but to leave comments on the blogs of two of your classmates. In doing so, the hope is to create a community of students who are concerned and knowledgeable about sustainability issues. You can use video, audio, media, etc. Be creative and have fun.
Blog about experiment: In addition, you will be designing a blog that describes all the aspects of your experiment-the theory, the set-up, and the results. Your website should educate and inform the users, with the use of not only words but with media (pictures, sounds, movies). Hyperlinks should exist for users who want more detailed information about your work. You may find this website helpful in describing your experiment although you are not required to adhere to all its guidelines
Since this is a 4-credit course, you are expected to spend 7.5 hours outside of class on your various assignments, roughly 2 hours on your reading assignments and questions about assignments and 5.5 hours on your blogging assignments. The more time you put into your blogs, the higher will be your grade.
Date | Class Topics | Assignments |
Tues (1/17) | Introduction to the coursehttp://www.suffolk.edu/recycling | Read Ch 1-4
Assignment 1:
|
Tues (1/24) | Distance, Velocity and Acceleration(cont.)Intro to Lego Mindstorm (cont.)
Discussion of reading Discussion of Fukushima Daiichi Nobel Prize winner Burton Richter on sustainability: Part 1 |
Read Ch 5-7
Assignment 2:
Assignment 1 due |
Tues (1/31) | Lecture 3 Discussion of readingScience: Force, Work, and Energy Lego Mindstorm Experiment-Work=Force*Distance= Energy Expended |
Read: Ch 8-10
Assignment 3:
Assignment 2 due |
Tues (2/07) | Lecture 4 Discussion of readingLego Mindstorm: Generator Experiment |
Read: Ch 11-14
Assignment 4:
Assignment 3 due |
Tues 02/14 | Discussion of reading Solar lab Excel Sheet example |
Read Ch 15-17
Assignment 5 :
Assignment 4 due |
Tues 02/21 | Tom Vales Sterling Engine, Peltier Junction, Mendocino MotorScience: Thermodynamics | Assignment 6 :
Assignment 5 due |
Tues
02/28 |
Trip to MIT Plasma Fusion Center | Assignment 7:
|
Tues
03/06 |
Team meeting
|
Assignment 8:
|
Tues
03/20 |
Team meeting
|
Assignment 9:Outline of Experiment |
Tues
03/27 |
Team meeting | Assignment 10:Preliminary Lab handout |
Tues
04/03 |
Trip to MOS Museum to study wind, solar energy and the Investigate exhibit | Assignment 11:
|
Tues
04/10 |
Presentation of lab to the other teams | Assignment 11:
Presentation of lab to the other teams |
04/17 | PPT Presentation to class, final class to work on experiment | Assignment 12:Website (Blog) |
Tues
04/ 24 |
Final experiment | |
Final’s week | Web site (blog) due |
- Course grading:
- Blogs: 35%
- Comments on Blogs: 5%
- Midterm: 10%
- Multiple choice questions: 5%
- Final Lab Write-up: 10%
- Final Website: 10%
- Final Presentation: 10%
- Class participation: 10%
- Chapter questions: 5%
The percentages assigned to the various course assessments only serve as a guideline to a student’s final grade, which is solely based on the instructor’s judgment on how well the student mastered the concepts and skills taught in the course. Reasons for departing from the stated percentages include but are not limited to: student struggled at the beginning but mastered concepts at the end, student’s attitude and effort, student’s dependency on other students’ work, effect of student’s illness on work, student’s performing the course work but missing fundamental understanding of material.
See the ECE Department’s grading policy to understand how grades are assigned.
Absence Policy: Students are required to attend class. Since class meets only once a week, two missed classes may result in an automatic “F grade in the course.
Tardiness Policy: Students are expected to be in class on time. If you are late, you will not be marked as “present”.
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