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Science and Pseudoscience Section III Liberal Arts and Sciences Breadth Course Proposal This is a model for the submission of new breadth course proposals. It is not intended to be the final outline for the course but rather, in combination with the course approval request form, addresses the course outline components required by the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB). Final outlines will include other information specific to each program/school offering the course. Course Title: Science and Pseudoscience Course Type: Lower Level Upper Level Course Category: Society, Culture and Commerce (SCC) Science and Technology (ST) Arts and Humanities (AH) Prerequisite(s): Credit Value: 3.0 Hours of Instruction Per Week: 3 hours (Lecture: 3; Lab: X; Tutorial: X) = 42 hours Course Restrictions: Not available to students in the following programs: n/a Date of Approval: November 2012 Date of Expiry: November 2016 1.0 Course Description Science permeates our lives with indispensable technologies, cures and discoveries – both subtle and profound. Our understanding of the natural world has never been greater, yet, paradoxically, distrust of science has grown and the ideas of science have been intermingled with myths or distorted into bad science. Strangely, one of scientific technology’s most conspicuous successes, the internet, has become the greatest source of misinformation. Pseudoscientific claims are all around us, and old myths still persist in our information age. In this course we will study many of the amazing claims made in the name of science and analyze them using the guiding principles of science and scientific methodology. From astrology and Tarot cards to ESP and UFOs, we distinguish between science and pseudoscience and gain a better understanding of the scientific method that has been at the heart of many of science’s truly great discoveries and innovations. This method allows us to test paradigms, challenge hoaxes and myths, and discover if there really is anything to all those claims about paranormal phenomena, telekinesis, numerology, aliens, and other topics on the fringes of science. Without a doubt, weird things are out there. This course helps us to find out which ones are real. Science and Pseudoscience is designed for students without any mathematics or science background. 2.0 Course Learning Outcomes At the conclusion of the course the student will have demonstrated the ability to: 1. Describe the Scientific Method and its relationship to Ockham's Razor and Falsifiability; 2. Explain the Demarcation Problem and relate it to Confirmation Bias (and how confirmation bias can lead to bad science); 3. Outline the general attributes of a science, pseudoscience, and protoscience, giving examples for each; 4. Describe the historical importance of Alchemy; 5. Define Pathological Science and highlight examples such as the Canals of Mars, N-Rays, and Cold Fusion; 6. Discuss current paradigms in science, such as the Big Bang, Continental Drift and Global Warming, and the evidence in their favour; 7. List and describe several misconceptions or myths in science, such as Lunar effects and Lunacy, the 10% brain, and dowsing; 8. Explain the "success" of significant scientific hoaxes such as Piltdown Man and Perpetual Motion Machines, and how they were ultimately debunked; 9. Recognize and explain the importance of Astrology in the history of early science and its eventual divergence with Astronomy; 10. Define the Conjunction Fallacy and explain its significance in numerology, "strange" coincidences and paranormal phenomena; 11. Identify common attributes of pseudo-scientific claims and employ this knowledge in formative reading and writing activities (quizzes, Assignment 1 and mid-term); 12. Contrast creation myths and evolutionary theory, and, in particular, summarize the Argument from Design and its contradiction to Descent with Modification; 13. Apply critical thinking abilities and an understanding of scientific principles in preparing for summative evaluations (Assignment 2 and Final Exam). 3.0 Methods of Instruction/Delivery Format • Interactive lecture and discussion • Audio-visual presentations • Online learning activities and materials • Individual and/or group presentations 4.0 Required Texts and Supplies All articles listed in Section 6.0, Course Schedule are copyright approved and available from the Humber Libraries; other materials are available from public domain sources. Each Unit provides multiple readings and for in-class teaching purposes instructors will select from among them. 4.1. Recommended Reading (optional) 4.2. Course Supplies 5.0 Evaluation Number and type of student evaluation components plus the weighting for each component. • Weekly Quizzes 10% • In-class group work 10% • Assignment 1 10% • Mid-term Test 20% • Assignment 2 20% • Final Exam 30% • Total 100% 6.0 Course Schedule Depending on topic preference, instructors will select between 2 – 3 readings per unit. Unit Topics Readings/Assignments The Nature of Science and the Scientific • Shermer, M. (2003). Why Smart People Believe Weird Things. Skeptic, Method 10(2), 62. • Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem • Schick Jr., Theodore (1997). The End of Science? Skeptical Inquirer • Limitations of Science (21.2) . Retrieved • Pattern Recognition and Natural Laws • Ockham's Razor, Popper's Falsifiability, from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/end_of_science/ and Replicability 1 • The Confirmation Bias • Sagan, Carl (1996). Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization. Skeptical Inquirer (20.2). Retrieved from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/does_truth_matter_science_pse udoscience_and_civilization • The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (Producer). (2009). Michael Shermer: Baloney Detection Kit. RDF. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUB4j0n2UDU Science in Transition: Displaced Paradigms • Henry, J. (1999). Magic and the origins of modern science. Lancet, 2 and Falsification 354SIV23. • "Common Sense" Observations and Perceptions (Geocentrism) • Szydlo, Z., & Brzezinski, R. (1997). A new light on alchemy. (Cover • Anomalies, Paradigms and Paradigm story). History Today, 47(1), 17. Shifts • Alchemy • Simpson, D. (2005). PHRENOLOGY AND THE NEUROSCIENCES: • Phrenology CONTRIBUTIONS OF F. J. GALL AND J. G. SPURZHEIM. ANZ Journal Of • Nemesis Theory and Dinosaur Extinction Surgery, 75(6), 475-482. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2005.03426.x • Atkinson, Nancy (2011, August 1). New Impact Rate Count Lays Nemesis Theory to Rest. In Universe Today. Retrieved from http://www.universetoday.com/87874/new-impact-rate-count-lays- nemesis-theory-to-rest/ Pathological Science • Langmuir, I., & Hall, R. N. (1989). PATHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. Physics • Belief, Evidence and Self-Deception Today, 42(10), 36-48. • Illusory Patterns and the Canals of Mars • N-Rays and Mitogenic Rays • Feynman, Richard P. (1974) Cargo Cult Science. In Engineering and • Cold Fusion and Polywater Science, 37 (7). pp. 10-13. ISSN 0013-7812. Retrieved from http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3043/1/CargoCult.pdf • Lane, K. D. (2006). Mapping the Mars Canal Mania: Cartographic 3 Projection and the Creation of a Popular Icon. Imago Mundi, 58(2), 198-211. doi:10.1080/03085690600687255 • Collins, P. (2001). THE MAN WITH N-RAY EYES. Lingua Franca: The Review Of Academic Life, 11(1), 42. • Klotz, I. M., & Katz, J. J. (1991). Two extraordinary electrical experiments. American Scholar, 60(2), 247. Science in Transition: Current Paradigms • Classen, N. (2012). A Brief History of Meteoritics. In planetary • Evidence and Acceptance meteorites. Retrieved from • Meteorites http://www.meteoris.de/basics/history1.html • Continental Drift (read all four sections) • Global Warming • Conniff, Richard (2012, June). When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/When-Continental- Drift-Was-Considered-Pseudoscience.html?c=y&page=1 4 • Chivers, Danny. Debunking the myths. (2011). New Internationalist, (442), 15-21. • Petersen, T. C., Connoley, W. M., & Fleck, J. (2008). THE MYTH OF THE 1970s GLOBAL COOLING SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS. Bulletin Of The American Meteorological Society, 89(9), 1325-1337. doi:10.1175/2008BAMS2370.1 Misconceptions, Myths and Conspiracies • Fagan, G. G., & Hale, C. (2001). The New Atlantis and the Dangers of • The 10% Brain Pseudohistory. Skeptic, 9(1), 78. • Lunacy and Lunar Effects; Eggs and the • Radford, Ben (1999). The Ten-Percent Myth. Skeptical Inquirer (23.2). Equinox; Dowsing • Cataclysmic Planetary Alignments Retrieved from http://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_ten-percent_myth • Fake Moon Landing • Talcott, R. (2010). Astronomy mythbusters. Astronomy, 38(11), 56-57. 5 • Britt, Robert Roy (2009, September 25). Moon Myths: The Truth About Lunar Effects on You. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar- effects.html • Morrison, D. (2009). 2012 and Counting A NASA Scientist Answers the Top 20 Questions About 2012. Skeptic, 15(2), 47-53. "Scientific" Hoaxes • Tobias, P. V. (1994). Piltdown unmasked. Sciences, 34(1), 38. • Piltdown Man and Alien Autopsy • Perpetual Motion Machines and The • Park, R. L. (2008). Fraud in Science. Social Research, 75(4), 1135-1150. Turk • Welle's War of the Worlds "Newscast" • Sokal, Alan D. (1996). A Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies. In • Dihydrogen Monoxide New York University (Department of Physics, Alan Sokal). Retrieved from http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/ling • The Sokal Affair
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