CPSP 227 Sophomore Capstone – Syllabus
Science, Technology and Society
Spring 2010
Tuesday & Thursdays, 9:30-10:45
Room: CCC 1105
Instructor: David Tomblin
Office: Chestertown 1108
E-mail: dtomblin@umd.edu
Office Hours: 8:30 – 9:15, 10:45 – 11:45 Tue & Thu
Phone: 301-405-0527
Course Overview: This course explores the context in which scientific discoveries and technological
breakthroughs occur. In essence, we will strive to define the nature of scientific research and
technological development. At their very base, the scientific process and technological development
involve shaping and controlling the raw materials of nature for human benefit. This discussion-based
course explores how the raw materials of nature are converted into human artifacts and manipulated to
improve the human living environment. To understand this process, we will investigate how science,
technology, society, and the environment shape each other. While most professional scientists and
engineers have good intentions, the decisions they make and the products they produce often have
unintended social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental consequences. Furthermore, how
their research is applied beyond the laboratory is often beyond their control. The field of Science and
Technology Studies aims to reveal the hidden costs of “progress” in an effort to improve the use of
scientific knowledge and technology. Beyond pointing out the social and political nature of science and
technology, STS offers ways to think about science and technology with a broader sense of ethics and
social responsibility.
The first half of the course introduces a number of analytical frameworks and concepts that STS scholars
use to analyze the relationship between science, technology, society, and the environment. During this
portion of the course you are expected to participate in classroom discussions and write weekly response
papers that reflect on the topic of the week.
In the second half of the course you will focus on a research project that employs the tools introduced in
the first half of the course in an original scholarly work that examines a current STS issue. Since this
project is the prime emphasis of the course, you are encouraged to choose a topic that interests you and
furthers your professional goals. The project involves three major components: an oral presentation, a
poster presentation at the Scholars Academic Showcase, and a 12-page paper due at the end of the
semester. Beyond working on oral, written, and visual presentation skills, this project is designed to
accomplish three goals: 1) provide students with practice employing tools for analyzing contemporary
issues in science, technology, and society; 2) give students an opportunity to improve their research
skills; and 3) encourage students to investigate the socio-political origins of scientific ideas and
technologies, while investigating their positive and negative consequences for society and the
environment. By the end of the semester, after several revisions and meetings with me, you will have
created an original essay centered on the relationship between science, technology, and society.
Required Texts: (I will post additional weekly readings on Blackboard.)
David E. Nye, Technology Matters: Questions to Live With (paperback)
Rudi Volti (6th ed.), Society and Technological Change
John McPhee, The Control of Nature
Poster Fee: You are required to pay a $35 fee for printing your poster.
University of Maryland Honor Code: All students are expected to follow the honor code. I will not tolerate
cheating, plagiarism, or any other infraction that violates the ethical norms of the University of Maryland. If you
haven’t already done so, please consult the universities website on appropriate student conduct
(http://studentconduct.umd.edu/).
Grading:
Response Papers
Classroom Discussion/Participation
Essay Exam
Course Project:
Thesis Statement
STS Framework
Annotated Bibliography
Power Point Presentation
Poster Presentation
Draft #1
Final Draft
Total
10%
10%
20%
60%
(2.5%)
(2.5%)
(5%)
(5%)
(10%)
(10%)
(25%)
100%
Response Papers: You are responsible for writing a short, 500 word (12 font, double-spaced) response paper for
each of the first six weeks of the course. All response papers are due at the beginning of the second meeting of
each week. I will not accept late papers. The purpose of these assignments is to assess your understanding of STS
concepts. Some weeks I may give you a focused question to respond to. Other weeks I may allow you to freely
reflect on any aspect of the week’s readings you wish. Papers will receive a letter grade based on the author’s
ability to articulate STS concepts, apply these ideas beyond the readings, and critically engage with the material. I
will elaborate more on what I expect in class.
Classroom Discussion/Participation: Attendance is mandatory and unexcused absences will reflect poorly on
this portion of your course grade. I will assess participation in a number of ways: active engagement in class
discussion, in-class group work, peer review work, asking relevant questions during student presentations, and
short written assignments, among others.
Midterm Grade: I will largely derive your midterm grade from response papers and class
discussion/participation. A few of your Course Project grades will also figure into this grade.
Essay Exam: This is a written test that will take place on November 24 after we have covered all the course
readings. The exam is designed to test your knowledge of STS concepts and your ability to apply them beyond the
examples given in class. I will give you more information on the structure of the exam as we draw closer to the
exam date.
Course Research Project: As mentioned earlier, this is a semester long endeavor that allows you to explore a
subject that interests you from an STS point of view. Furthermore, you will acquire skills that are essential for
professional development. I will provide details on this project as the semester progresses. However, in general,
you are advised to stay on top of this project. There are a number of graded assignments throughout the semester
that contribute to your final project grade. Included among these are at least two drafts of your research paper
(some of you will require more). Good writing involves multiple revisions and reflection on feedback from your
peers. Therefore, I will review and grade the first draft, a 10-12 page first attempt at formulating your argument.
You will receive two grades on this draft: one that evaluates your adherence to minimum requirements and one
that expresses the grade you would receive if the draft was turned in as a final paper. Depending on how well you
do on your first draft, I may require a second draft. The final draft should build off the feedback you receive on
earlier drafts. Your ability to address comments is a major component of your final project grade. Ultimately, the
final draft should result in a much improved piece relative to your first draft.
As all components of this project are important, failure to complete any of the assignments relevant to the
project will result in a failing project grade. If your assignments are late for any reason beyond verified family
emergencies, you will lose one letter grade per day for that particular assignment. Lastly, if you have any trouble
with any aspect of the project, please consult me sooner rather than later. In doing so, we can avoid potential
problems that might make it difficult for you to finish your assignments on time.
Important Dates:
Scholars Academic Showcase: April 30, 2010 (1 – 4 PM)
Field Trip: TBA
Required Seminars:
April 7 (5:00 – 6:30 PM): Greg Mittman, “Latex and Blood: Science, Markets and American Empire”
(Location: Physics Rm. 1412)
You are also required to attend one other seminar during the semester. I will give you a list of acceptable
seminars later in the semester.
Course Schedule:
Week 1: What is Science and Technology
January 26
Course Introduction
Discussion on pre-conceptions of science & technology (What is science and technology?)
What is STS?
January 28
Research Focus: Finding a Topic
Stephen Kline, “What is Technology?” (Handout in Class)
Nye (Ch. 1), “Can we Define Technology?” (Blackboard)
Volti (Ch. 1), “The Nature of Technology”
(Response Paper #1)
Week 2: The Relationship between Science and Technology?
February 2
Research Focus: Doing Preliminary Research to Focus Your Topic (Finding a General Source)
Bruce Railsback, “What is Science?” (Blackboard)
Volti (Ch. 4), “Scientific Knowledge and Technological Advance”
February 4
John McPhee, The Control of Nature – Read “Atchafalaya”
Go to the following websites for visual illustrations of McPhee’s description of the dynamics between the
Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi River:
http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/LouisianaRiverControl.html
http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html
(Response Paper #2)
Week 3: Why Study STS: An Historical Perspective
February 9
David E. Nye, “Technology, Nature, and American Origin Stories” (Blackboard)
Volti (Ch. 2), “Winners and Losers: The Differential Effects of Technological Change”
(List of Three Potential Topics Due – Why does each topic interest you?)
February 11
Nye (Ch. 2), “Does Technology Control Us?”
Volti (Chs. 16 & 17), “Technology and Its Creators: Who’s in Charge of Whom?” and “Organizations and
Technological Change”
(Response Paper #3)
Week 4: Social Construction of Science and Technology
February 16
Research Focus: Creating a Thesis Statement
Nye (Ch. 3), “Is Technology Predictable?”
Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker, “The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts” in The Social Construction of
Technological Systems (1987) (Blackboard)
Thomas Hughes, “Technological Momentum” (Blackboard)
(Approved Topic Due)
(Response Paper #4)
February 18
Bruno Latuour, “Give me a Laboratory and I Will Raise the World” (1983) in The Science Studies Reader.
(Blackboard)
Handout: “Actor Network Theory” (Blackboard)
(Response Paper #5)
Week 5: Democracy, Science and Technology
February 25
Volti, (Ch. 18), “Governing Technology”
Maria Barkardjieva and Andrew Feenberg, “Community Technology and Democratic Rationalization,” The
Information Society 18 (2002): 181-192. (Blackboard)
Giles, Jim (2005). “Internet Encyclopedias Go Head to Head,” Nature, 438 (December 15): 900-901.
(Blackboard)
(Thesis Statement Due)
February 27
Steven Epstein, “The Construction of Lay Expertise: AIDS Activism and the Forging of Credibility in the Reform
of Clinical Trials,” Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1995): 408-437. (Blackboard)
Reid Helford, “Constructing Nature as Constructing Science,” in Restoring Nature (2000) (Blackboard)
(Response Paper #5)
Week 6: Multicultural Responses to Science and Technology: Race, Gender, and Class
March 2
Research Focus: Research Workshop (Bring Laptops)
Nelly Oudshoorn, “The Decline of the One-Size-Fits-All Paradigm, or, How Reproductive Scientists Try to Cope
with Postmodernity” in Social Shaping of Technology. (Blackboard)
Ruth Schwartz Cowan, “’Industrial Revolution’ in the Home: Household Technology and Social Change in the
20th Century,” Technology and Culture, Vol. 17, No. 1 (January 1976): 1-23. (Blackboard)
March 4
Nye (Ch. 5), “Cultural Uniformity, or Diversity?”
Dennis Rogers Martinez, “The Sinkyone Intertribal Park Project,” Ecological Restoration and Management Notes
10 (1992): 64-69. (Blackboard)
Ethan Goffman, “A Plan to Spruce up D.C.‘s Anacostia River has Some Residents Anxious,” Grist (retrieved
online at http://www.grist.org/article/goffman1) (Blackboard)
Gottlieb, R. (2002). Rediscovering the river: A community-environment coalition secures urban parkland for L.A.
Afield Orion, Spring. http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oa/02-2oa/LARiver.htm1
(Blackboard)
(Response Paper #6)
Week 7: Race, Gender and Class continued
March 9
Erik Reece, “Moving Mountains: The Struggle for Justice in the Coal Fields of the Appalachian Mountains,”
Orion (January/February 2006) (Blackboard)
Barbara Allen, “Environmental Justice and Expert Knowledge in the Wake of Disaster,” Social Studies of Science
37 (2007): 103-110. (Blackboard)
Daniel Sarewitz and Roger Pielke, “Managing the Next Disaster,” Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2005.
(Blackboard)
Video: Moving Mountains
(Response Paper #7)
March 11
ASEH – Assignment TBA
(Topical Outline and Annotated Bibliography Due – E-mail to me by midnight Thursday)
SPRING BREAK: March 13-21
Week 8: Data Workshop/Student Meetings
March 23
Research Focus: Workshop on Data Presentation
Case Study: Mountain Top Removal in West Virginia and Oil Exploitation in Ecuador (Additional material on
Blackboard)
March 25
Student meetings with Dr. Tomblin – see handout schedule
STS Framework Assignment due Wednesday, March 24 at 8 PM via e-mail to dtomblin@umd.edu
Week 9: The Energy Crisis, Climate Change, and Sustainability
March 30
Workshop: Designing Power Point Presentations and Posters
April 1
Overview of Energy Crisis, Climate Change, and Sustainability
Nye (Ch. 6), “Sustainable Abundance, or Ecological Crisis?”
David Orr, “Four Challenges of Sustainability” Conservation Biology (2003) (Blackboard)
Wendell Berry, “Faustian Economics: Hell Hath No Limits,” Harper’s Magazine (May 2008): 35-42.
(Blackboard)
Julian Simon, “Can the Supply of Natural Resources Really Be Infinite? Yes!” In The Environmental Ethics and
Policy Book (1994) (Blackboard)
Week 10: The Energy Crisis, Climate Change, and Sustainability
April 6
The Politics of Alternative Energies
Volti (Ch. 6), “Technology, Energy, and the Environment”
Video: “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
April 8
(First Draft Due)
Week 11
April 13
The Politics of Climate Change
Myanna Lahsen, “Technocracy, Democracy, and U.S. Climate Politics: The Need for Demarcations,” Science,
Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2005): 137-169.
April 15
In class poster review
(Poster Due)
Week 12
April 20
National Security and Terrorism
Volti (Ch. 15), “How New Weapons Emerge”
Nye (Ch. 9), “More Security, or Escalating Dangers”
Torin Monahan, “Questioning Surveillance and Security,” in Technology and Society: Building Our
Sociotechnical Future (2009) (Blackboard)
April 22
The Hidden Social Elements of Virtual Reality and the Internet
Nye (Ch. 10), “Expanding Consciousness, or Encapsulation?”
David Orr, “Virtual Nature,” Conservation Biology 10 (1996): 8-9. (Blackboard)
Jonathan Taylor, “The Emerging Geographies of Virtual Worlds,” Geographical Review, Vol. 87, No. 2 (April
1997): 172-192. (Blackboard)
Week 13
April 27
Review
April 29
Essay Exam on STS Concepts
Weeks 14 & 15: PowerPoint Presentations/ Work on Final Draft of Paper
May 4 & 6
Wrap Up & Course Evaluations
Visual Presentations (5 -6 each day)
May 11
Final Paper Due