Initial Publication Date: July 24, 2013

Science for Non-Scientists

Developed by Basil Tikoff, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This website hosts all of the materials developed for an undergraduate course called "Science for Non-Scientists." Students enrolled in this course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison showed very significant gains in critical thinking skills, as measured by the Critical Thinking Assessment test, developed at Tennessee Tech University. The course was developed by Basil Tikoff and taught in the Integrated Liberal Science (ILS) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was designed to be an introductory science course for non-science majors, for whom this class would likely be a terminal science class, that would lead to a greater understanding of scientific thinking.

Course Materials

The sequence of course topics is shown below, with links to all available course materials. You can also access each type of course material via the navigation menu on the left side of this page, or by following these links:

Lecture presentations | Handouts | Readings | In-Class exercises | Homework assignments | Study guide and final exam

Week 1:

Course Overview: Scientific Ways of Knowing (PowerPoint 6MB Jul3 12)

Week 2:

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The planisphere of Copernicus, or the system of the entire created universe according to the hypothesis of Copernicus exhibited in a planar view.
Provenance: Andreas Cellarius
Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction.

Scientific Ways of Knowing

Lecture: Scientific Ways of Knowing (PowerPoint 12.8MB Jul3 12)

Homework: Scientific Notation & Scale Model of the Solar System (Microsoft Word 69kB Oct24 11)

In-class exercise?: A Scientific Protocol (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 49kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Feynman - Uncertainty of Science

Bryson - Introduction and Chapter 1 from A Short History of Nearly Everything

NY Times - Elevating Science, Elevating Democracy

Ptolemy & Copernicus

Lecture: Ptolemy & Copernicus (PowerPoint 4.9MB Jul3 12)

Handout: Observations of Ptolemy & Copernicus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 87kB Oct21 11)

Reading: Bryson - Ch 2 & 3 from A Short History of Nearly Everything

Week 3:

Galileo & Natural Observation

In-class exercise? : Galileo’s Inclined Ramp Experiment Handout (Microsoft Word 50kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 3-4

Cargo Cult Science - Adapted from the Caltech commencement address given in 1974 by Richard P. Feynman

Cargo Cult Science Reading Guide (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 82kB Oct24 11)

Cargo Cult Science Notes (Microsoft Word 26kB Oct24 11)

Galileo & Experimentation

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 5-6

Galileo - Dialogue

Week 4:

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Eratosthenes used applied trigonometry to figure out the circumference of the Earth
Provenance: Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Equinox & Eratosthenes

Lecture: Equinox & Eratosthenes (PowerPoint 2.7MB Jul3 12)

Handout: Equinox Handout (Microsoft Word 79kB Oct24 11)

In-class exercises? :

Equinox Exercise (Microsoft Word 77kB Oct24 11)

Uncertainty Exercise (Microsoft Word 241kB Oct24 11)

Homework: Homework 2: Radius of the Earth (Microsoft Word 175kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 7-9

Why People Believe Weird Things - Michael Shermer (2002), Macmillan Publishers, 349 p. - Forward & Ch 1

Logical Fallacies, Galileo & Experimentation

Lecture: Logical Fallacies, Galileo & Experimentation (PowerPoint 12.3MB Jul3 12)

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 11

Shermer- Ch 3

Week 5:

Graphs and Graphing

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Graph of a Gaussian distribution
Provenance: Wikimedia Commons
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Lecture: Uncertainty (PowerPoint 1.5MB Jul3 12)

Handout: Uncertainty Day 2 Handout (Microsoft Word 59kB Oct24 11)

In-class exercise: Uncertainty Exercise (Microsoft Word 241kB Oct24 11)

Homework: Homework 3: Graphs and Errors (Microsoft Word 272kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Uncertain Science... Uncertain World by Henry N. Pollack (2003), Cambridge University Press, 256 p. - Ch 1-2

Bryson - Ch 10

Statistics (Emperical)

Lectures:

Addressing Scientific Uncertainty and Statistics (PowerPoint 2MB Jul3 12)

Statistics PowerPoint (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 815kB Oct24 11)

Handout: Uncertainty Day 3 Handout (Microsoft Word 59kB Oct24 11)

Homework:

Homework 4: Statistics (Microsoft Word 77kB Oct24 11)

Homework 4: Error (supplemental handout) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 142kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 3-4

Golnick & Smith - Cartoon Guide/Huff, How to Lie

Week 6:

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Newton saw an apple fall and the moon, and realized that the same force that made the apple fall also kept the moon in orbit.
Provenance: Wikipedy.com @ - Online Encyclopedia
Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction.

Newton & Theoretical Approaches

Lecture: Paterson & Induction vs Deduction (PowerPoint 4.4MB Jul3 12)

Handouts:

Newton Worksheet Handout (Microsoft Word 47kB Oct21 11)

Newton Activities Handout (Microsoft Word 38kB Oct21 11)

Reading: Bryson - Ch 10-12

Probabilities (Theoretical)

Homework: Homework 5: Probability (Microsoft Word 51kB Oct24 11)

Week 7:

Plate Tectonics

Lecture: Plate Tectonics (PowerPoint 13.2MB Jul6 12)

Homework:

Homework 6: Exponentials (Microsoft Word 65kB Oct24 11)

Homework 7: Exponentials Decay (Microsoft Word 49kB Oct24 11)

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 13-14

The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change - Naomi Oreskes, Science, December 3, 2004.

Plate Tectonics

Lecture: Evolution of Science (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 381kB Jul5 12)

Readings:

Bryson - Ch 15

Tharp obituary - The Contrary Mapmaker - Stephen S. Hall, New York Times Magazine, December 31, 2006.

Week 8:

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Provenance: Screenshot of LearningWithData
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Plate Tectonics

Lecture: Plate Tectonics 2 (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 2.4MB Jul6 12)

Reading: Oreskes - Epilogue

Midterm Exam

Week 9:

Evolution

Lecture: Evolution (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 12.8MB Jul12 12)

Readings:

Carroll - Ch 1-3

Bryson - Ch 16-18

Plate Tectonics

Readings:

Coyne - Intro & Ch 1

Bryson - Ch 19-21

Week 10:
$Darwin\'s ape$

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Show caption

Evolution and Darwin's Idea

Lecture: Evolution and Darwin\'s Idea (PowerPoint 6.6MB Jul12 12)

Readings:

Coyne - Ch 2-3

Darwin - Origin

Bryson - Ch 22

Darwin's Finches

Lecture: Darwin\'s Finches (PowerPoint 2.3MB Jul12 12)

Readings:

Weiner, pp. 17-48 & 140-156

Coyne - Ch 4-5

Bryson - Ch 22

Week 11:

Sex, Sexual Selection, and Natural Selection

Reading: Coyne - Ch 6-7

Human Evolution

Reading: Coyne - Ch 8-9

Week 12:

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Climate Change

Lecture: Climate Change - Day 1 (PowerPoint 7.2MB Jul12 12)

Homework:

Homework 8: Atmosphere (Microsoft Word 32kB Oct24 11)

Homework 10: IceOut (Microsoft Word 318kB Oct24 11)

Historical development of the anthropogenic climate change (Until ~1950)

Periodic table of the elements

Climate Change

Lecture: Climate Change - Day 2 (PowerPoint 10.3MB Jul12 12)

Historical development (Until ~1980)

Keeling curve

Geological archive activity

CFCs, Ozone, & Treaties

Development of Numerical Models

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 4-5

Weart - Ch 1

Homework due: Exponential Growth

Week 13:

Climate Change

Lecture: Climate Change - Day 3 (PowerPoint 6.9MB Jul12 12)

Movie: Inconvenient Truth

Inconvenient Truth Questions Handout (Microsoft Word 32kB Oct21 11)

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 6-7

Scientists' assessment of Inconvenient Truth

Homework due: Exponential Decay & Dating

Writing assignment: Rachel Carson? (or Copenhagen NY Times interviews or NY Times Winners and Losers in Climate Change)

Week 14:

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Montage of photos from January 24, 2009 demonstrations in support of 350ppm atmospheric carbon dioxide target.
Provenance: Photo montage is from http://www.350.org/. Photos on 350.org are available for reuse according to: http://www.350.org/media
Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction.

Climate Change

Lecture: Climate Change - Day 5 (PowerPoint 2MB Jul12 12)

IPCC

In-class exercises:

Madison & climate change (activity)

Discussion of Nelson

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 8-9

IPCC FAQs

Nelson (Unicorn's Horn)

Writing Assignment: Long review of Nelson (Unicorn's Horn)

Climate Change

Lecture: Climate Change - Day 6 (PowerPoint 2.7MB Jul12 12)

IPCC and holistic science

In-class exercises:

Thresholds and Feedbacks (Hands-on & video)

Scientific presentations vs. other presentations

IPCC group discussion

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 10-11

IPCC FAQs

Additional Media Reading

Homework due: Madison and climate change

Week 15:

Climate Change

In-class exercises:

Science/Society interactions on climate change

IPCC group discussion

Readings:

Pollack - Ch 12

Weart - Ch 8 & Reflections

Copenhagen media

IPCC FAQs

Writing Assignment: Oreskes, 2004 & 2007

Climate Change

Science/Society interactions on climate change

Copenhagen media

Homework due: Carbon footprint & analysis