Assignments for Unit 1: Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning and the Galileo Case Study

Week #1: August 30 - September 3
Study: Martin, Scientific Thinking, Chapters 0, 1, and 2
Read: Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, Chapter 1, pp. 1-25
 and Chapter 2, pp. 45-64
Optional Reading: Koertge, Lecture 6 and Correspondence Lesson #6

Week #2: September 6 - 10
Study: Martin, Chapters 9 and 11
Read: Kuhn, Chapter 3 and Chapter 5, pp. 134-55 and 165-84
Optional Reading: Koertge, Correspondence Lesson #7 
and Correspondence Lesson #8

Week #3: September 13 - 17
Study: Martin, Chapters 12 and 13
Read: Kuhn, Chapter 6
Optional Reading: Questions on Galileo Case Study

Week #4: September 20-24
Optional Reading: Outlines for Old Lecture #3 and Old Lecture #4
Optional Astronomical Viewing:  For a description of what
can be viewed in the night sky without a telescope
see www.astro.indiana.edu/startrak.html. The Kirkwood
Observatory on campus is open to the public on Wednesday
evenings from dusk on.

 Exam #1 on Wednesday, September 22
  

Assignments for Unit 2: Basic Concepts of Sampling and Probability

#5: September 3 - October 1
Study: Martin, Scientific Thinking, Chapters 3, 4, and 5
Read: Semmelweis Case Study

#6: October 4 - 8
Study: Martin, Chapter 6 and Moore, Statistics: Concepts and Controversies, Chapter 1, Sections 1 - 6
Optional Reading: Moore, Chapter 1, Sections 7 - 9

#7: October 11 - 15
Study: Moore, Chapter 7

#8: October 18 - 22

Exam #2 on Wednesday, October 20

 

Assignments for Unit 3: Experimental Design, Causes and Correlations

#9: October 25 - 29
Study: Moore, Chapter 2, Sections 1 - 4;  Types of Causal Experiment

#10: November 1 - 5
Study: Martin, Chapters 7 & 8; Moore, Chapter 5, Sections 1 - 3

#11: November 8 - 12
Study: Martin, Chapters 17 - 22

#12: November 15 - 19

Exam #3 on Wednesday, November 17

#13: November 29 - Dec. 3
Study: Extraordinary Claims and Anecdotal Evidence

#14: December 6 - 10
Moore, "Is It A Coincidence?", pp. 330 - 331
 and "How Numbers Can Trick Us", pp. 181 - 188.

Exam #4 on Friday, December 17