28098 - History of the Scientific Thought (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Docente: Marco Ciardi
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: M-STO/05
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires critical tools to: interpret primary and secondary sources on the history of scientific thought (contextualized in the philosophical culture, technical, socio-political, institutional of their time); perform archival research; produce various kinds of papers (reviews, critical, articles, essays).

Course contents

First lesson: 25 marzo 2020

Course Location: Via Centotrecento, Aula D: Wednesday: 1-3 pm. - Thursday: 3-5 pm. - Friday: 3-5pm.

Course Title: Science, pseudoscience, fake news, and conspiracy theories

The course will provide an overview of how science communcate her results and why citizens are often misinformed about science. We will show that human sciences play a crucial role in considering ways of making science accessible to the general public. The course will focuses specifically on the relationship between science, popular science and journalism. We discuss a number of research areas particularly important for our understanding of widespread of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, especially in the new media. We will carry out exercises to verify the sources of scientific and historical information. Journalists and experts in the field will partecipate to the course.

Contents of the course:

Lessons 1-7: science and society, communication, fake news, pseudoscience, conspiracy theories.

Lessons 8-15: practical part, participation by experts and journalists.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

1) M. Ciardi, Galileo e Harry Potter. La magia può aiutare la scienza?, Roma, Carocci, 2014.

2) One of the following texts:

- W. D. Allmon, Evoluzione e creazionismo. Una breve guida per orientarsi, Padova, CICAP, 2017.

- G. Barbujani, P. Cheli, Sono un razzista, ma sto cercando di smettere, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010.

- S. Garattini (a cura di), Acqua fresca? Tutto quello che bisogna sapere sull'omeopatia, Milano, Sironi, 2015.

- R. H. Fritze, Falsi miti. Come si inventa quello in cui crediamo, Milano, Sironi, 2012.

 

Non-attending students:

1) M. Ciardi, Galileo e Harry Potter. La magia può aiutare la scienza?, Roma, Carocci, 2014.

2) S. Fuso, Le ragioni della scienza, Roma, C1V, 2018. 

3) One of the following texts:

- W. D. Allmon, Evoluzione e creazionismo. Una breve guida per orientarsi, Padova, CICAP, 2017.

- G. Barbujani, P. Cheli, Sono un razzista, ma sto cercando di smettere, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010.

- S. Garattini (a cura di), Acqua fresca? Tutto quello che bisogna sapere sull'omeopatia, Milano, Sironi, 2015.

- R. H. Fritze, Falsi miti. Come si inventa quello in cui crediamo, Milano, Sironi, 2012.

Foreign students do not have to write papers for the exam. They will be required to make a power point.

Teaching methods

Teaching methods will include traditional lectures, open discussions, and presentation of papers by the students. Course attendance is strongly recommended.

Assessment methods

The exam will take the form of an oral discussion and the student will be assessed according to the knowledge he has acquired, his ability to provide a clear summary of the topics covered and his critical handling of the material. He will be expected to refer to both the exam bibliography and the texts read and discussed during the lectures.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.
Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology. A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Evaluation levels:

30 cum laude: excellent performance showing soundness of knowledge, rich discursive articulation, appropriate expression, interest of critical contribution;

30: Excellent performance, complete, and appropriate knowledge, well-articulated and appropriately expressed, with interesting critical contributions;

29-27: Good performance, more than satisfactory knowledge, correct expression.

26-24: Standard performance, essential knowledge, but not comprehensive and / or not always correctly expressed;

23-21: Sufficient performance, general but superficial knowledge; often inappropriate expression and/or confused articulation of speech;

20-18: Poor performance, sufficient expression and articulation of speech with significant gaps;

< 18: Insufficient performance, knowledge absent or very incomplete, lack of orientation in the discipline, poor and seriously flawed expression.

Teaching tools

Teaching tools will include power points, web sources.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Ciardi

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities Climate Action

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.