Block 4
WS 216
Gender and Science
Jeff Noblett and Neena Grover
Instructors Information:
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Jeff Noblett |
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Palmer 6 |
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Email: jnoblett@coloradocollege.edu |
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Voice mail: 389-6516
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Office Hours: 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Required Books:
The Gender and Science Reader
Edited by Muriel Lederman and Ingrid Bartsch
Rosalind Franklin and DNA
Anne Sayre
A collection of articles collated by the instructors (available at the bookstore)
Welcome to Gender and Science! In this class we hope to introduce you to new perspectives on science. Researchers in history, sociology, philosophy, science, and women studies, among others, have looked at gender issues in science. Do cultural experiences permeate into scientific theories? Is it possible to know the “truth”? Is there one answer to many of the scientific inquiries? What biases have affected scientific inquiry? Does gender play a role in the questions we ask, the hypotheses we propose, and how we analyze the data? Have the lives of scientists been different because of their gender? Could science look different today had the investigations proceeded differently? What are the consequences of these issues for the society? These are some of the many questions that will be discussed. Our hope is that this class will open the ways in which you look at science and scientists.
Topics Covered:
The class will start with a discussion of feminisms and the nature of science. Lives of women in science will be examined from historical and contemporary times to determine what the barriers are for women in science. We will then examine the research focused on gender and race issues. Feminist epistemologies will be studied to understand the nature of inquiry in science and its historical roots. With this knowledge we will aim to envision a more holistic science.
Class Participation and Preparation:
Class participation is a very important part of this class. The class can only get as good as you all choose to make it.
Preparing for the class means that you will thoroughly read the material before you come to the class and will participate in class discussions. The readings given on the syllabus for each day are those we will discuss that day, and thus are the ones you will be preparing before class! Different groups will lead the class discussion on different topic. Even if you or your group is not leading the discussion, it is important that you have prepared the material as if you were presenting it. This will allow you to get more out of each class. Part of your class grade depends on daily participation in the classroom. Sitting quietly is not considered participation in this class. A separate section below talks about leading class discussions.
Class participation adds to the class atmosphere. Respect for everyone in the class is of utmost importance as we all have invested in our ideas about gender and science. To carefully examine these beliefs can be painful and it is important that we do this without being hurtful.
Group Work:
Class is divided into permanent groups for leading discussions on various topics. Groups will sign up for the topics on which they intend to lead the discussions. This sheet will be handed out to everyone soon after sign-up. The groups leading the discussion will do just that- lead. They do this by asking specific questions. Thus, everyone in the class should have read the material thoroughly to be able to answer the questions. This also allows everyone in the class to lead the discussions and participate instead of having one or two people who might take over the class. Guidelines for leading the discussions are at the end of the syllabus.
There are other assignments where students will work with a group configured based on a field of interest. This will allow everyone in the class to get to know each other and learn from/with as many people as possible.
Grading:
The extent of class participation, two formal papers, class presentations, and the portfolio determine the grade in this class.
Grade distribution will be as follows:
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Interview and First Paper |
30% |
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Class participation and Presentations |
20% |
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Second Paper |
30% |
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Portfolio, journal, response |
20% |
Please write and sign the honor pledge on all your work. Your work will not be graded without these. The statement of the honor code should read: I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this exam.
Journal Entries:
We will have an e-journal created for this class. Instruction for accessing these will be given in class. Note that there are two days in the block that contain two journal entries on a single day. All journal entries are mandatory.
E-journal for the first two weeks (J 1-4) will consist of responding to the question posed in the syllabus by 9 pm on the day indicated. Then, you must respond to at least two of your fellow student’s entries by 9 am (i.e. before class). You may choose to respond to a different question. Clearly define your question and address your response to it. Responses to journal entries may be short or long, but must be relevant and constructive. We expect use of civil language, though writing style and grammar may be somewhat loose. Keep track of each other’s ideas and especially of how they connect to the readings. The entries are your reactions, thoughts, feelings about the material and responses to the particular questions that are posed.
During the third week, you will write a journal entry in response to the readings on which you are not leading the discussion. You will again respond to any two of your fellow students entries.
Two journal summaries are required. Journal summaries should be 1-2 page long, 12-point font, double-spaced. These should connect the thoughts expressed in the preceding readings, discussions, and e-journals.
Scientific Autobiography I and II:
You will write an approximately 4-page autobiography, using a 12-point font, double-spaced, discussing the role of science in your past, present, and future. This document will become a part of your portfolio.
Some of the things to think about as you write your autobiography are:
Scientific profile of your family and friends
Science discussions at home
Games you played as a child
Your curiosity of the world around you
Your views of science from 0- now
Science classes you have taken/would like to take
Things you wanted to do (at age 6 – 8 years) when you grow up
Your vision of your future
Role of science in your life and in the society
This assignment is to be done twice. You will do autobiography I in the first week of the class. In the final week of the class, you will again write about your past, present, and future. Hopefully, the readings in the class will have influenced you to examine your life from a new perspective.
Portfolio:
You will be creating a portfolio in this class. The idea behind building a portfolio is to document your learning and progress. Make your portfolio as comprehensive as possible.
The portfolio will have all your work in one place. It will have your journal entries, responses, scientific autobiographies, biased-science news article, examples of some of the research you have done on the history of women in science, summary of your interview, paper I (mid-term), your presentation I summary, presentation II, examples of research on an area of science used for your paper II. You will be turning in paper II after you have turned in your portfolio. You should add it to your portfolio after you have turned it in (on the web). We will be looking at the web version after the due date of your final paper.
The portfolio has to be turned in electronically. We will create a folder on the Internet to drop your portfolio. This will allow the professors to see your portfolio. If this is not possible, you will turn in your portfolio via email and on a disk. Please check with us if our computers can open the software you are using for word processing.
Presentation I: Identifying and Proposing Solutions to Barriers for Women in Science: Jigsaw discussion and a board summary
Each group will research the barriers to women in science in a particular field of science. You will research women in this field –past and present, to learn about the field from women’s perspective. You will develop an historic overview of the field. This could be biographical with ideas about experiences in that field. Multiple resources will be available to you at the reserve desk of the library and through the instructors. One member of each field will become an ambassador to other groups to teach them about a specific field (Jigsaw presentations). The second part of this presentation on Dec 4th will focus on developing a list of barriers to women in a particular field
Presentation II: Research on a specific field: Practicing Feminist Science 20 minutes each
This presentation is more formal and requires research on current strategies used by different fields to make classrooms more accessible to everyone- including women and minorities. You will, as a group, research a field or sub-field of science and relate it to your readings on feminist perspectives on science. Teaching the Majority by Sue Rosser has sections on different fields. Similarly, the last chapter of Athena Unbound discusses strategies for developing better science for the future. Use these as a resource along with your own research to develop a presentation. You can be more creative in your presentation approaches – stand up and talk is only one model for presentations.
Interviewing a Women Scientist:
Over the Thanksgiving break you will select a woman scientist who has been in a scientific field for a significant portion of her life. The purpose of this project is to develop a perspective of a field from a contemporary women scientist and relate it to historical research of that field. This is part of your Paper I (for your midterm).
Preferably pick a women scientist who is your mother’s age or older. Try to pick some one you already know, such as, women in your extended family (including family friends). Start thinking about the questions you may want to ask. You may even want to start an initial interview. Watching some of the videos of interviews of women in science series might also be helpful in generating appropriate questions. You should pick a person who will be able to answer your questions over a period of two weeks (Dec 7h). You will invariably need to ask her additional questions about her field as you read more about the history of the field. Your interview with this person should be appropriately recorded, as you will need details from the interview for your mid-term paper (Paper I). You will be reading more about the field of the person you are interviewing for your paper. Once you start researching the women in this field, your views about this scientist’s situation may be very different from that of her own. You should not impose your views on her but use these to frame questions that would be useful for your understanding of the issues.
General Guidelines for the papers:
Papers are graded for content and writing. Each paper should have a title, a clear thesis and argument to support the thesis, careful organization, thorough research, and good analysis. Writing should be grammatically correct and should contain no spelling errors. References should be included in all papers. Papers should be written in a 12-point font, double spaced, and be about 8-10 pages long. Length of the paper does not determine the quality of the work and is only presented as a guideline!!
It is recommended that research for the paper should be started at least a week before the due date. Drafts of papers should be taken to the writing center. It is recommended that students discuss ideas, outlines, and drafts with the instructors during office hours.
As a general rule, a paper that presents all the requisite information, indicating adequate understanding, is considered a C paper. When good argument, analysis, and writing are added to this paper it may become an A paper. (Of course, good chocolate helps!!!)
In this paper you will research the field of the woman scientist that you interviewed. You will write about at least three aspects:
A) Historical background of the field. It should contain information about the involvement of women in this field. Following are examples of the kind of questions you should seek to address: How were women trained? What were the conditions under which women could do research? How was this effort supported? What were the cultural beliefs about women scientists at this time?
B) Interview of a practicing woman scientist. The interview of a woman scientist should be presented in a format that is interesting and readable. Literal transcription of the interview is not appropriate for the paper format. This section should transition from the previous section instead of a standing out on its own.
C) Analysis. Clearly define the barriers to women in this field. How does your analysis of the field and the interview come together? Does the woman interviewed understand the nature of the field? What is your understanding of the woman scientist and her career path as compared to hers? What questions could you ask to deepen your understanding of the concepts?
As you can tell by reading the above description you will have to do quite a bit of research. This component will take time and should be started early. You may have some information about the field from the students who may have researched this area for determining the barriers to women. You should take good notes during this section in the class and use these to further your research. You are encouraged to discuss resources with any group who researched the field initially.
As you begin to read about the field, you will have many questions for the scientist you are interviewing. You should discuss with the scientist the possibility of asking multiple questions over a period of about a week and revisiting some issues. The women scientists are likely to have a very different view of the field and their successes and failures as compared to yours. Your goal is to look at this interview in the light of history of the field with a critical eye. This doesn’t mean that you have to force your views of the field on the scientist you are interviewing. Ask your questions carefully and without judgment.
Paper II: Research on a controversial scientific issue: A feminist critique
The final paper for this class will reflect your ability to summarize succinctly a controversial issue in science and to present a feminist analysis of the issue. You will review the traditional way science has viewed the issue. You will use the information you have learned in this class to create a feminist critique of the issue and will analyze the issue as carefully as you can. Organize your categories of analysis based on your readings and your perspectives.
Many good issues can be found in medical practices. For example, in vitro fertilization (IVF), breast cancer research, hormonal treatment for postmenopausal women, AIDS research, cosmetic surgery (other medical-body issues), and Alzheimer’s all offer an excellent opportunity for such a study. You could also use personal contacts with medical personnel or patients. Many other ideas can be found in all the sciences. Many environmental issues are open to this type of analysis: e.g. dams on the Colorado River, US. Nuclear tests in the Bikini Islands, mining practices versus energy needs, waste issues, population control, alternate fuel sources, etc. More traditional questions about great theories, their discovery and implications for feminism might work. Education is another field that can be explored for similar analyses. Science Policy can also be reviewed from a feminist perspective. It is recommended that you pick a topic that you are inherently interested in to do this research. This project is research intensive. This paper is graded on your ability to show that you have learned the material presented in this class. You do not have to agree with the feminist critique. You may submit a 1-2 page personal opinion at the end of your paper.
The paper must follow the same guidelines discussed above for the first paper. Again, there is no fixed length- this may depend on your topic and available information, but many excellent papers have fallen in the 10 -12-page range.
Attendance Policy:
Missing more than two classes will cause you to lose all participation points. Missing four classes will cause you to fail the class. If you need to miss a class, you must notify the instructor before the class. All other misses will be considered unexcused. Only in extenuating circumstances will any requests for waiving this policy be considered.
On Leading Discussions:
The class will be divided into permanent groups who are in-charge of leading discussions on certain topics. It is recommended that the group members divide the material on which they will specifically lead discussions. However, for the discussions to be coherent, the group members must read the material carefully and discuss it with each other. It is recommended that the group meet with the instructors for a few minutes to make sure they know the key points to highlight in the discussion. Once you start discussing the material as a group, you will realize that you can do a more in-depth analysis of the material as a group. You will also develop clearer vision of the questions it raises for you.
Discussion Leader:
As a discussion leader, you should know the material well. You may not understand everything (even people with all the experience in the field do not) but you should be well prepared. Read the relevant material that you are responsible for a few times VERY carefully. Think of the overall organization of topics and the key concepts that should be covered. You are encouraged to discuss this aspect of the material with the instructors before the class. Outline the main ideas for yourself (this should be a bulleted list, preferably) and should fit on an index card. Try to establish how the material being covered connects with previously discussed material. Involve your group members as much as possible in this process.
Your role is to LEAD the discussion, and NOT to lecture. To accomplish this:
a) Ask the class questions about the background material.
b) Have a clear sense of which order you are going to cover the topics and what questions you are going to ask to lead the discussion. These do not have to be profound. For example, ask someone in the class to define one of the key points of the paper, ask the next person to add another main point or to illustrate the point by using a specific example from the paper. You can designate a third person to make it visual by putting the main points on the board. Use of chalkboard should be encouraged.
c) You can ask the class to help you in developing the key points on your sections before proceeding with directed questions on the material.
d) It is best to develop a system when asking questions. Go around the table and ask everyone one question. This way you are not putting any particular person on the spot and you (and the class) don’t have to think about whom the next question is directed towards. Similarly, when discussing multiple things at once, delegate the task. Ask different people to put different aspects on the board. Or ask multiple people to put their opinion on the board simultaneously.
e) Give the class a reasonable amount of time to think about the question. If the person being asked needs help in understanding the question, ask it differently. Engage the class in providing hints or leading questions (“who wants to help”) or open up the question to the whole class before answering the question yourself. The key here is to not spend too much time on a question but to allow the class a fair chance to answer the question.
f) Feel free to ask questions that you do not (may not) know the answer to.
g) It is OK to speculate on what may be potential ways of using the information or possible answers to a question. Do not rule out an answer because the authors do not say so. Does the answer seem logical based on the given information? If not, ask a question that would lead to the correct logic.
h) Try not to ask questions that have yes or no answers.
i) Don’t hesitate to put some one on the spot by specifically asking them a question. It does not reflect on that person’s abilities, you are giving them a chance to get some participation points.
j) Try not to rush through the material or go too slow. Finding this balance is important and difficult. We will help you in establishing this in the earlier part of the class.
k) It is important to ask everyone to participate. This allows for quieter people to participate in the class and keeps talkative ones from taking over the discussion. Remember you want everyone to get the points for class discussion.
l) It is OK for someone to not have an answer once-in-a-while.
m) Ask the class to summarize the key point after the discussion.
n) Use instructors as a resource as and when you need to.
o) Finally, we will do enough of this in the class that you won’t have to think about it, so don’t be nervous!!