History of Science Online - Course Info - Time tips - Semester at a glance - Weekly assignments at a glance - Timeline - Week 1: Exploring the Past

Starting Assumptions

Every week, you will have a "Starting Assumptions" assignment. In order to complete this assignment, you need to have completed the following prerequisites:

1. Created an account and registered for this course at Janux.
2. Logged into the course site at Desire2Learn.

Before reading further on this page, make sure you are familiar with the general description of the Starting Assumptions assignment.

Instructions for Starting Assumptions assignment: Look over the questions and links below; then watch the Starting Assumptions video prompt for this unit at Janux. PART ONE: Write a paragraph, 150 words minimum, in response to any questions that interest you. Post your completed paragraph in the Starting Assumptions discussion stream for this week at Janux. PART TWO: Read the Starting Assumptions posts of at least two other students at Janux. Make another post in the discussion stream at Janux replying to their posts. (If you are the first or second person to post, you will have to check back later to complete this part of the assignment.) IMPORTANT: When you respond, please begin by greeting the persons by name you are replying to, so that they will be more likely to notice that you are replying to them. And over the next several hours, check back and see if anyone comments on your post as well. If you provide interesting comments in response to others, they will be more likely to look for your posts both now and in the future. As you post your paragraph and respond to two other students, complete the Gradebook Declaration in Desire2Learn. Your Gradebook Declaration is subject to the Honor Code. Check all that apply: if you have completed the assignment, you will check all five statements. If you work on the assignment at different times, you may make the Gradebook Declaration incrementally as you complete each part. You may redo the Gradebook Declaration as often as you like up until the due date, if any part is incomplete the first time. Here is the text of the Desire2Learn Gradebook Declaration: (2 points) I have posted my Starting Assumptions (at least 50 words) at Confluence, including a response to the required question(s). (2 points) I have posted my Starting Assumptions (at least 100 words) at Confluence, including a response to the required question(s). (2 points) I have posted my Starting Assumptions (at least 150 words) at Confluence, including a response to the required question(s). (2 points) I have replied to the post of at least one other student. (2 points) I have replied to the post of at least two other students.

Starting Assumptions Questions

1. What interests you most about history? What interests you least about history? What history courses have you taken?
2. What interests you most about science? What interests you least about science? What science courses have you taken?
3. What interests you most about the history of science? What interests you least about the history of science? What history of science courses have you taken?
4. What are some movies that relate to the history of science? Explain the connection to history of science and what you like about them.
   
5. Do you remember a favorite story from the history of science? Did you learn it from a textbook, your own reading, a science teacher, or from what other source?
   
6. Where do most people learn what they think they know about the history of science? Science textbooks, children's stories, movies, popular books, or what?
   
7. Are you interested in the history of science in any particular nations, countries, or geographical areas?
   
8. What languages do you speak / read / write / understand? Are you taking any non-English language classes right now?
   
9. Stonehenge appears in the thumbnail icon for this week, which is found in the upper left corner of this page and all Week 1 pages, and which always links back to the Week 1 unit page. (Larger version of the Stonehenge image.)
• Do you know much about Stonehenge?
• Have you visited Stonehenge, or any other similar stone circles?
• Have you watched any movies or documentaries about Stonehenge?
• What problems might historians, archaeologists and astronomers face in trying to understand such structures and to interpret how they were used? How would they be able to tell whether their explanations are correct, or merely conjectures?
  
  
10. ****Look at the thumbnail image shown right. This icon for course syllabus pages appears in the upper left corner of all course info pages, and always links back to the course info page.
    • What does this image have to do with the history of science?
    • What does it mean to you?****

	HSCI 3013. History of Science to 17th century Kerry Magruder, Instructor, 2004-14 Brent Purkaple, TA Report typos or broken links	Go to this course at Janux spellcheck.net | wordcounter.net Many thanks to the pedagogical model developed in Mythology and Folklore and other online courses by Laura Gibbs, which have been an inspiration for this course.	Academic Calendar
	This course is currently undergoing major reconstruction to bring it into alignment with the new version of the course at Janux