GE Committee Report for New Synthesis Course

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

ACADEMIC SENATE

GENERAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE

REPORT TO

THE ACADEMIC SENATE

GE-022-023

HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

General Education Committee Date:

Steering Committee Received and Forwarded Date: 4/30/03

Academic Senate Date: 7/23/03 First Reading 9/24/03 Second Reading GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 3 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

Background

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is proposing HST 408 History of American Science and Technology as a General Education Interdisciplinary Course for Areas C or D.

Discussion

This course brings together knowledge gained from lower division courses in the social sciences and humanities to understand the profound social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental impact of science and technology in the United States from the colonial period to the present. It also explores in depth the human and social shaping of American scientific and technological systems, the limits of technological solutions of social problems, and the importance of ethical and critical thinking in evaluating scientific and technological decisions. Thus the course allows students to apply basic knowledge from the foundational courses to larger settings and problems such as those arising in American science and environmental policy. Issues covered include the impact of science and technology on American civilization and human values, ecological problems, engineering ethics, and biomedical technology and its ethical implications in the American context.

As science and technology play increasingly important roles in our lives, students pursuing careers in these fields can make positive contributions to society only if they have a thorough understanding of the social and ethical implications of their work. Likewise, students in the humanities and social sciences can not escape social, cultural, and political issues arising from the applications of science and technology. An education that does not address the problems of science-society interactions will ill prepare the students for the future. Case studies of major scientific and technological issues in the American historical context will enable both groups to see the complex webs of interactions involved in both the development and the utilization of science and technology. If the past is prologue, such examinations should help the students deal with the future challenges by enhancing the students’ critical thinking skills as they learn about both the potentials and the limits of scientific and technological progress.

Directed reading, discussion, analysis of documentary and fictional visual materials, book reviews, and research paper projects including oral presentations help students to further develop their ability to integrate and synthesize their knowledge and skills from the humanities and social sciences as they analyze the historical interactions between American science, technology, and society, and test theories about social construction of science and technology and related public policy. GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 4 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

Recommendation

The author originally posed this course as an interdisciplinary GE synthesis course for sub areas B4(Science & Technology Synthesis), C4 (Humanities Synthesis) and D4 (Social Science). After consultation with representatives of the GE Committee the course author changed the course to an interdisciplinary synthesis course for either C4 or D4. There was no consultation about this course on the Academic Programs Web site. The GE committee has therefore determined that the expanded course outline properly defined the course to be in compliance with the interdisciplinary GE Synthesis Course guidelines for subareas C4 and D4. The course was approved by the GE committee on 04/02/2003 and is now forwarded for consideration by the Academic Senate. GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 5 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

I. Catalog Description Title: HST 408 History of American Science and Technology (4) History 408 History of American Science & Technology (4) Social, political, economic, and cultural shaping and impact of American science and technology from colonial period to the present. Science in government, industrial revolution, technological systems, Taylorism, modernism, atomic bomb, Cold War, environmental movement, computer, internet, biotechnology. 4 hours lectures- discussions (4 units). Prerequisites: Completion of GE requirements in Area A, and completion of lower division GE requirements in any two sub-areas of Area C and any two sub-areas of Area D. This course fulfills General Education Synthesis Requirement for C-4 or D-4.

II. Required Background or Experience

Completion of GE requirements in Area A, and completion of lower division GE requirements in any two sub-areas of Area C and any two sub-areas of Area D. This course fulfills General Education Synthesis Requirement for C-4 or D-4. III. Expected Outcomes

This course brings together knowledge gained from lower division courses in the social sciences and humanities to understand the profound social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental impact of science and technology in the United States from the colonial period to the present. It also explores in depth the human and social shaping of American scientific and technological systems, the limits of technological solutions of social problems, and the importance of ethical and critical thinking in evaluating scientific and technological decisions. Thus the course allows students to apply basic knowledge from the foundational courses to larger settings and problems such as those arising in American science and environmental policy. Issues covered include the impact of science and technology on American civilization and human values, ecological problems, engineering ethics, and biomedical technology and its ethical implications in the American context.

As science and technology play increasingly important roles in our lives, students pursuing careers in these fields can make positive contributions to society only if they have a thorough understanding of the social and ethical implications of their work. Likewise, students in the humanities and social sciences can not escape social, cultural, and political issues arising from the applications of science and technology. An education that does not address the problems of science-society interactions will ill prepare the students for the future. Case studies of major scientific and technological issues in the American historical context will enable both groups to see the complex webs of interactions involved in both the development and the utilization of science and technology. If the past is prologue, such examinations should help the students deal with GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 6 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

the future challenges by enhancing the students’ critical thinking skills as they learn about both the potentials and the limits of scientific and technological progress.

Directed reading, discussion, analysis of documentary and fictional visual materials, book reviews, and research paper projects including oral presentations help students to further develop their ability to integrate and synthesize their knowledge and skills from the humanities and social sciences as they analyze the historical interactions between American science, technology, and society, and test theories about social construction of science and technology and related public policy.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to

 understand the dynamic interactions between science, technology, and American society, as well as the key role played by the environment and environmental movements in modern US history

 evaluate the successes and failures of various modern technological inventions and discern the connections between scientific and technological developments in various disciplines

 apply knowledge gained in foundational courses humanities and social sciences to new areas of investigations through in-depth research in the form of a term paper

 explain how science and the enlightenment ideals formed part of the background of the American revolution, how the federal government has sponsored scientific and technological progress, how race, gender, and class figured in the development of science and technology, and how science, technology, and society have become thoroughly intertwined with each other in the twentieth century

 understand how science and technology have had a profound impact on American culture, including philosophy, literature, cinema, theater, music, and art, and how in turn how American culture helped reshape the scientific and technological enterprises

 gain insight into the close interactions between science and technology, as scientific advances provided inspirations for technological progress and the invention of new tools in turn made Big Science possible

 recognize how technology entails not just device and hardware but heterogeneous technological systems shaping and in turn being shaped by American society, politics, and culture

 develop writing, critical thinking, and communication skills and interdisciplinary perspectives on science, technology, and society GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 7 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

 gain a sense not only of the potentials but also of the limits of science and technology in solving social, political, and environmental problems.

IV. Text and Readings

Required Texts:

Hughes, Thomas P. American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970. New York: Penguin, 1998. Smith, Merritt Roe, and Gregory Clancey (eds.). Major Problems in the History of American Technology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Kevles, Daniel J. The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History: A Guide for Students. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

General Readings:

American Science and Technology: Historical Studies Badash, Lawrence. Scientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons: From Fission to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1939-1963. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1995. Geiger, Roger. To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities, 1900-1940. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Geiger, Roger. Research and Relevant Knowledge: American Research Universities since World War II. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Marcus, Alan, and Howard Segal. Technology in America: A Brief History. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999. McDougall, Walter A. The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age. New York: Basic Books, 1985. Numbers, Ronald L. and Charles E. Rosenberg (eds.). The Scientific Enterprise in America: Readings from Isis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Smith, Merritt Roe and Gregory Clancey (eds.). Major Problems in the History of American Technology. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Both primary and secondary sources.

Humanistic Literature on American Science and Technology Burdick, Eugene and Harveey Wheeler. Fail-Safe. New York: Dell, 1962. George, Peter. Dr. Strangelove. Boston: Greg Press, 1963. Harding, Sandra. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women's Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991. Keller, Evelyn Fox. A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1983. Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith. New York: Harcourt,1925. Mack, Arien. Technology and the Rest of Culture. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1997. GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 8 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

Manning, Kenneth. Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Penley, Constance. NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America. New York: Verso, 1997. Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985. Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940-1972, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1995. Roszak, Theodore. The Making of the Counterculture. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969. Roszak, Theodore. Where the Wasteland Ends. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973. Traweek, Sharon. Beamtime and Lifetime: The World of High Energy Physics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988. Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Cat's Cradle. New York: Delacorte Press, 1963.

Social/Political Studies of American Science and Technology Cohen, I. Bernard. Science and the Founding Fathers: Science in the Political Thought of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and Madison. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. Dickson, David. The New Politics of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988, 2nd ed. Dupree, A. Hunter. Science in the Federal Government: A History of Policies and Activities to 1940. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. Sarewitz, Daniel. Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology, and the Politics of Progress. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. Wang, Jessica. American Science in an Age of Anxiety: Scientists, Anti-Communism, and the Cold War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Physical Sciences/Engineering/Computer and Society Edwards, Paul. The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press, 1997. Galison, Peter and Bruce Hevly (eds.). Big Science: The Growth of Large-Scale Research. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992. Hoddeson, Lillian, et al. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Hughes, Thomas P. American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm. New York: Viking, 1989. Hughes, Thomas. Rescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects that Changed the Modern World. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. Kevles, Daniel. The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. Roland, Alex, and Philip Shiman. Strategic Computing: DARPA and the Quest for Machine Intelligence, 1983-1993. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.

Biological Sciences/Biotechnology/Environmental Studies GE-022-023, HST 408, HISTORY OF AMERICAN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 9 INTERDISCIPLINARY GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE – AREA C OR D

Bauer, Martin (ed.). Resistance to New Technology: Nuclear Power, Information Technology, and Biotechnology. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1995. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962. Larson, Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997. Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American Mind. New Heaven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986. Penna, Anthony N. Nature's Bounty: Historical and Modern Environmental Perspectives. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999.