Linking Science and Social Issues
What Basic Science is Covered in the Course and How is it Linked to Public Policy Questions?
I have taught this course in two versions, one with a month-long diamond exploration project (Version 1) and one without (Version 2). The current version incorporates the diamond exploration project. The following links have topical outlines for both courses.
What Strategies Does the Course Use to Both Advance Science Education and Foster Civic Engagement?
Fighting the partitioning of knowledge
Most students compartmentalize science and view it as something
that scientists do, but which has limited relevance to non-science
studies. In the case of the geological sciences, most students see
only the most obvious connections between geology and human events,
typically the connections involving resource wealth or geologic
hazards such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods. Most students
are aware, for example, that the power and influence of South
Africa are directly tied to its fabulous mineral wealth. Very few
understand, however, either the evolution of the underlying
geologic framework that makes South Africa so different from other
regions in Africa, or the fundamental connection between the
character of the gold deposits in South Africa and the origin of
black oppression policies in the country. Virtually every student I
have encountered has been unaware that exploitation of the
comparatively low grade paleoplacer gold deposits of the
Witwatersrand required a large supply of cheap indigenous labor and
that the labor supply was insured with development of taxation,
pass, and homeland laws favorable to the mine owners, leading
ultimately to the mid-20th century policy articulated as apartheid.
Students are by and large completely unaware of connections such as
this that tie the geology and geologic evolution of regions to the
economic, sociological, cultural, and historical development of
nations.
In this course, I want to give students an opportunity to see
science, not as an esoteric collection of factoids, but rather as
being instrumental in recovering our human past, understanding the
present, and predicting the future. I also hope that, by tying
science to human events, science will become more interesting and
relevant to non-science students, as well as broader and richer for
science students.
Providing students the wherewithal to think scientifically and grapple confidently with science issues after the course is over.
Most students leave high school having experienced science as a
collection of facts and terms to be memorized, and items or
processes to be recognized and classified, rather than as a way of
thinking, solving problems, and finding out how the natural world
works. Few students who enter college understand what science is
and what scientists really do. Most introductory geology courses
unfortunately do little to change students' perceptions about
science. In typical introductory courses in both high school and
college, students do not actively participate in the process of
science, nor do they have the experience of asking questions and
trying to find ways to get at answers, which is what science is
really all about. Students in introductory geology are typically
subjected to a flurry of topics in survey fashion and are never
asked to "do science". By focusing on content, most introductory
courses do little to prepare students to think on their own
scientifically once the course is
over. This is a large contributing factor in rampant science
illiteracy in this country.
My goal is to create a more effective learning environment in class
than is typically achieved in a traditional lecture-based course.
Because students learn best by doing, rather than by being lectured
to, I have developed a course that de-emphasizes traditional
lecture and focuses instead on hands-on investigative activities,
self- and peer-teaching, and group-learning. By giving students
practice in acting and thinking as scientists during
the course, the course is "enabling", and students come away with
more than a grade on their transcripts. The course stresses
personal (but guided) experience in doing science (rather than
listening to the instructor talk about others doing science) in
order to increase literacy about the process of science (rather
than simply the "facts" of science) and to improve students'
abilities to think critically. The various assignments and
activities in the course help students accomplish the following:
Develop a personal understanding of and experience in how geologists solve problems, including the types of questions that geologists ask, the kinds of data that geologists collect and why they collect those data, how geologists use specialized language and reporting strategies (e.g.., maps and stratigraphic columns) for presenting data, and the kind of reasoning geologists use to solve problems.
Gain experience in using geologic data and concepts to solve open-ended problems, including evaluating evidence, coping with imperfect and incomplete data, developing and defending a solution to the problem, and assessing the uncertainties.
Understand the usefulness and necessity of the quantitative aspects of science, ranging from simple tasks such as unit conversion and interpretation/construction of graphs to specific quantitative tasks such as calculation of radiometric ages to loosely constrained quantitative tasks such as estimations and back-of-the-envelope calculations.
What are the Capacious Civic Questions or Problems Addressed in This Course?
The Geology and Development of Modern Africa is an introductory
geology course that has been taught at Hamilton College since 1994.
The course aims to help students develop a deep understanding that
human history has been dramatically influenced by the actions and
accidents of geologic processes. The course is centered on the
following overarching principles:
- that understanding geology is instrumental in recovering our human past, understanding the present, and predicting the future and that a significant number of human events cannot be completely understood without understanding the underlying role of geology, geologic processes, and the environment.
- that science plays a unique role in providing real data for decision-making but that scientific data rarely form the only basis for making decisions in public and business arenas.
During the course, students gain a rigorous understanding of geology and geologic processes and explore the underlying influence of geology on human events. The course is structured around a series of geologic topics that have direct relevance to particular historical, cultural, political, or economic issues in Africa - past and present fluvial processes of the Nile River System, hydrogeology and climate change in North Africa, the structure and evolution of the East African Rift Zone, and mineral resources in Africa. Once the geologic framework for a given topic has been firmly established, students work out the connections between geology and the relevant human issues. Some of the many connections we explore during the semester include the following:
- long-term fluctuations in fluvial activity and the rise and fall of dynasties along the Nile.
- climate change, bedrock geology, and the location and timing of development of Egyptian civilization.
- processes in fluvial systems and the economic implications and environmental consequences of damming the Nile at Aswan.
- water supply, water demand, and international relations in North Africa.
- modern hydrogeology in the Sahara and Sahel and the future for economic growth in North Africa.
- climate change, greenhouse warming, and the future for the Sahara and Sahel.
- development of the East African Rift and the evolution of hominids.
- bedrock geologic history of Africa, the natural resource "haves" and "have-nots", and international relations.
- character of gold deposits and the origin of black oppression in
South Africa.
Tables Showing Public Policy Links in the project with the Diamond Exploration
Table of Public Policy Issues with Diamond
Exploration (Acrobat (PDF) 103kB Jul8 08)
Tables Showing Public Policy Links in the Project without the Diamond Exploration
Table of Public Policy Issues without Diamond Exploration (Acrobat (PDF) 110kB Jul8 08)
