Chemistry 190: Special Seminar in Chemistry “, Society, and the Skeptic: Becoming a Critical Consumer of Everyday Science”

Fall Semester 2013 Monday/Wednesday 3:30-4:45 p.m. Kenan Laboratories Room B121

Instructor: Ms. Lauren Jarocha [email protected] GRC: Mr. Trey Archer [email protected] Office: Caudill Laboratories Room 010 Phone: 919-962-1694 Instructor Office Hours: 9-10 AM on Tuesdays in the Kenan Science Library, or by appointment GRC office hours: TBA Email policy: If you would like a timely response to your email, please be sure to put “Chem 190” in the subject line of all messages for this course. Science impacts our lives on a daily basis. We encounter the results of scientific every day. We may not always notice it, and our science classes haven’t always prepared us to know what to do with that science when we run into it. Advertiser frequently use scientific sounding claims to try to sell us a product. The news reports on scientific research with the intent to inform us and sometimes even scare us. Movies and television use scientific concepts to entertain us. The question is, is all this “science” actually science at all? How do you know if you encounter solid scientific results when and pseudoscientific claims are everywhere? It turns out that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to sort through the noise and use scientific thinking to make informed decisions about your life, health, and technology.

Course Goals for Chem 190:

Students should be able to:

• Explain the basic realities and limitations of the way scientific research is conducted • Identify claims in the media that can be evaluated scientifically • Develop a conceptual framework and working knowledge of resources that can be used to evaluate those scientific claims for validity • Identify stakeholders in scientific debates and the bias that affects their positions • Recognize the tools, tricks, and logical fallacies that can be used to lead our thinking astray • Differentiate between science, junk science, , , and fraudulent science

Required Readings:

Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort Through the Noise Around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies by Sherry Seethaler (ISBN-10: 0132849445)

Why People Believe Weird Things: Psuedoscience, Supersition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer (ISBN-10: 0805070893)

Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by L. Park (ISBN-10: 0195147103) How to Succeed in this Class:

The primary goal of this course is to help you become a better critical consumer of science. To do that, we need to ask the questions: How do you encounter science in your everyday life? What tools do you need to evaluate that scientific information to the best of your ability? This is a science course that is less about memorizing scientific facts, and more about the way you process and evaluate scientific information. It is a skill that requires practice. For this reason, you are expected to take an active part in the learning process in this course. The interactive (and I hope, interesting) nature of this course will make attendance and participation necessary for you to achieve the course goals.

Attendance Policy: All graded work will be based on information covered, explained, discussed, and assigned during class. Class attendance is therefore extremely important. All absences must be communicated to me in writing prior to the date of the absence, and the absence must be approved by me prior to the absence to be considered excused. A total of two unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the course.

Class participation: Since this is a seminar course, a healthy portion of your grade will be based upon participation in class discussions and activities. You are expected to come to class prepared by doing the necessary reading, thinking, and researching so that you may fully participate in discussions for that day.

Laptop and cell phone policy: In order to succeed in this class, I expect you to take your coursework seriously. Class time should be devoted to the topics and materials relevant to the course subject and goals. Because we will often be dealing with media presentations of science, videos, TV commercials, news articles, and other digital media, I will not ban the use of a personal laptop in the classroom if it is being used to enhance and contribute to our discussion or facilitate research. Personal calls, texting, social media, surfing, and other online activity during the class period that is not relevant to course discussion or is distracting from the learning in the classroom is not acceptable and will impact your participation grade.

Course Topics:

The list below contains some of the topics that will be raised by the course material and discussion throughout the semester. We will attempt to tackle these topics from a critical and scientific perspective. This list is not exhaustive, and I encourage you to bring your own topics and questions to class.

Health and Beauty – homeopathic medicine, faith healing, herbal remedies, aroma therapy, , anti-aging, diet fads, cancer and its link to cell phones/wifi/powerlines/plastics/coffee consumption/etc., the link between autism and vaccinations, , polywater, urine therapy

Cultural and media- Science based cults, animal rights and research, , scientific journalism and reporting, science and the scientist in the news, movies, music, internet, tv, etc.

Science and Technology-global warming, , genetically modified organisms, , space exploration

Supernatural and the Occult- hunting, ESP, telekinesis and phenomenon, , UFO sightings, alien abductions, crop circles,

Class room conduct:

Some of the topics that will be covered in this class can be sensitive subject. The very nature of the course will have us talking about some topics that may be intimately related to participants’ personal beliefs and practices. We will not shy away from discussing such topics, but all students are expected to maintain a respectful and accepting atmosphere that will help foster discussion.

Grading:

Participation: 20% Written assignments: 35% This will be divided between three equally weighted assignments

Total for in-class presentations: 45% Divided into 12%, 15%, and 18% allotments for the first, second, and third presentation, respectively

Assignments:

This is a science seminar that was designed to include active participation in research. To that end, many of the assignments in this course will require some form of independent research and reporting your findings back to the class. This will take the form of both short written assignments and in class presentations

In this research-exposure course, you will be working with a Graduate Research Consultant, Trey Archer, who will assist you in these research projects. The GRC program is sponsored by the Office for Undergraduate Research (www.unc.edu/depts/our). I encourage you to visit this website to see other ways that you might engage in research, scholarship and creative performance while you are at Carolina.

Written assignments: This course will include three written assignments based on topics and issues raised by the required reading. All written assignments must be received electronically by the beginning of the class period in which the assignment is due. Attendance is still expected on class days when assignments are due. Typically, writing assignments will be approximately one page in length using 12 point Times New Roman Font, 1.5 line spacing, and one inch margins on all sides. The deadlines for written assignments will be announced no less than one week before the due date.

In class presentations: There will be three in class presentations in this course. Two will be individual presentations and one will be a group presentation. Details of the presentation assignments will be given at least one week in advance of the presentation.

Assignment deadlines: The due date for assignments will be clearly spelled out at the time the assignment is given. Late work will be penalized with deductions from the total points available as follows:

1 Day Late: 10% 2 Days Late: 20% 3 Days Late: 40% 4 Days Late: 80% 5 Days Late: 100%

Course Schedule:

Because of the nature of this seminar class, the topics of discussion and the length of time that discussion requires will be based on class interest. The course schedule is designed to be flexible to allow us to explore current scientific controversies as they arise, media presentations of science as they are published, pseudoscience and junk science that is interesting and relevant to the participants, and the scientific concerns and topics in the course materials. The exact dates for the course topics are, therefore, flexible, but are provide here as a guideline.

Monday Topic Wednesday Topic August 21th Introduction to the course. What is science? August 26th The August 28th Peer Review

September 2nd Labor Day: NO CLASS September 4th First Oral Presentation

September 9th First Oral Presentation September 11th First Oral Presentation

September 16th Seethaler Discussion September 18th Seethaler Discussion

September 23rd Pseudoscience Special Topic September 25th Journalism and Science

September 30th What the #$*!? October 2nd What the #$*!

October 7th Shermer Discussion October 9th Second Presentation

October 14th Second Presentation October 16th Second Presentation

October 21st Shermer Discussion October 23rd Pseudoscience Special Topic

October 28th Morehead Field Trip October 30th Outer space: The Intersection of Science and Entertainment November 4th The Science of Beer: An November 6th Pseudoscience Special Topic interview with a Chemist November 11th Park Discussion November 13th Park Discussion

November 18th Final Presentation November 20th Final Presentation

November 25th Final Presentation November 27th Thanksgiving: NO CLASS

December 2nd Final Presentation December 4th Final Presentation