The Scientific Method

Syllabus - Fall 2008

Items of interest:

F.D.A. Allows Irradiation of Some Produce
Measles Cases Grow in Number, and Officials Blame Parents' Fear of Autism
I.O.C. Asks for Inquiry of Chinese Gymnasts
- X-rays could tell Chinese Olympic gymnasts' ages, scientists say
- Bone Age from Wikipedia
Ohio Voting Machines Contained Programming Error That Dropped Votes
US 'Bigfoot' find branded a hoax
Japanese Foot Pad Is Latest Health Fad
NASA hacker McKinnon loses latest extradition fight - a 42-year-old UFO enthusiast lost his bid in a British court to fight extradition to the U.S.
Phone Concerns Unproven - No link with brain tumors
Vatican celebrates Darwin - The Vatican is holding a conference next year to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species

We'll fill these spaces with current items during the term.


Aug 25 M Lecture #1: Introduction; Start reading Shermer
    27 W Lecture #2: The Scientific Method; Continue reading Shermer
    29 F Lecture #3: Induction and Deduction; Homework #1 due by 11:00am
Sep 01 M University Holiday
    02 T Lecture #4: Pseudoscience and Evidence; Quiz on foreword and chapters 1 and 2 of Shermer (Note Tuesday!)
    03 W Lecture #5: Probability;  Quiz on chapters 3 and 4 of Shermer
    05 F Lecture #6: Probability; Homework #2 due by 11:00am
    08 M Lecture #7: Conceptions about Risk; Quiz on chapters 5 and 6 of Shermer
    10 W Lecture #8: Bermuda Triangle; Quiz on chapters 7 and 8 of Shermer
    12 F Lecture #9: Observation and Perception; Homework #3 due by 11:00am
    15 M Lecture #10:
    17 W Lecture #11:
    19 F Lecture #12: Midterm paper title, abstract and outline due by 11:00
    22 M Lecture #13:
    24 W Lecture #14:
    26 F Lecture #15: 3-page book review #1 due by 11:00
    29 M Lecture #16:
Oct 01 W Lecture #17:
    03 F Lecture #18: Homework #4 due by 11:00am
    06 M Lecture #19:
    08 W Lecture #20:
    10 F Lecture #21: Midterm paper due by 11:00am
    13 M Fall Break
    15 W Lecture #22:
    17 F Lecture #23: Homework #5 due by 11:00am
    20 M Lecture #24:
    22 W Lecture #25:
    24 F Lecture #26: Homework #6 due by 11:00am
    27 M Lecture #27:
    29 W Lecture #28:
    31 F Lecture #29: Homework #7 due by 11:00am
Nov 03 M Lecture #30:
    05 W Lecture #31:
    07 F Lecture #32: 3-page book review #2 due by 11:00
    10 W Lecture #33:
    12 W Lecture #34:
    14 F Lecture #35: Final paper's title, abstract, and outline due by 11:00am
    17 M Lecture #36:
    19 W Lecture #37:
    21 F Lecture #38: Midterm rewrites due by 11:00am (no exceptions);
    24 M Lecture #39:
    26 W Holiday
    28 F Holiday
Dec 01 M Lecture #40:
    03 W Lecture #41: 15-page paper due by 11:00am
    05 F Lecture #42: Student Presentations
    12 F 0800-1100am  Final Examination

Lecture Topics:

AIDS Denial; Alternative Medicine; Astrology; Bermuda Triangle; Searching for the Star; Cannibalism; Talking to the Dead; Creationism; DNA, Art Fraud ; Death Penalty; Dr. Snow and Cholera; ESP; Second-hand Smoke (ETS); Eyewitness Testimony; Faith Healing; Flat Earth; Global Warming; Hoaxes; Intelligent Design Creationism; Induction and Deduction; Introduction; How to Lie with Statistics; Trofim Lysenko; Modern Art; Observation and Perception; Patents; Peak Oil; Polls; Probability; Recognizing Pseudoscience; What is Evidence?; Conceptions about Risk; Modern Scams; Scams, Frauds, and ID Theft; The Scientific Method; Science and Religion ; Psychics; Shroud of Turin; Skeletons in the Physics Closet; Stellar Evolution; Student Presentations; Threshold Phenomena; UFOs; Barry Marshall and Ulcers; Experiment Design; They See Dead People, Or Do They?

<-- Back to the Physics 3333/ CFB 3333 Home Page