| Course Title: Pop Science: Science and Culture |
| Start Date: 09/03/2025 End Date: 12/16/2025 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2025 |
| Description: Pop science is the term for science communication that distills scientific discoveries for a general audience. Some of these scientific ideas can have striking cultural influence. For example, the "butterfly effect" as an explanation of the mathematical definition of chaos led to a cultural change from belief in a predictable universe to one where small changes can have big effects. Through a range of books, news articles, and social media from the 1980s until today, we will examine the cultural influences of scientific advances in popular understanding. In addition, we will consider critiques of pop science, including concerns about its accuracy and the effects of racism and sexism on science communication. |
| Distribution(s): NO - Meets No Distrib. Rqmt , FY - First-Year Seminar , WI - Writing-Intensive |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Alanna Hoyer-Leitzel | ahoyerle@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/03/2025 - 12/16/2025 | Seminar | Tuesday and Thursday | 10:30AM - 11:45AM | CLAP - Clapp Laboratory | 402 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| FYSEM0001 | First-Year Seminar | This is a First-Year Seminar. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Closed | Capacity: 12 | Enrollment: 18 | Available: 0 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Chaos: Making a New Science Author: Gleick, James Copyright: 2008 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780143113454 Publisher: Pengiun Books |
Recommended | 20.00 |
| Title: Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do Author: Steele, Claude M. Copyright: 2010 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780393339727 Publisher: W. W. Norton |
Required | 9.99 |
| Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Author: Skloot, Rebecca Copyright: 2010 Edition: Volume: ISBN: Publisher: Crown |
Required | 15.00 |
| Title: They Say I Say: the moves that matter in academic writing Author: Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein Copyright: 2021 Edition: Volume: ISBN: Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company |
Optional | 16.00 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |