The Program
This year the First-Year Program (FYP) is shaped by the theme:
In a culture of the here and now, how then shall we live?While the theme is intended to be a touchstone for the program, it is deliberately open to many interpretations. There is no single way to think about the theme, our relationship to it or how you and I might respond to it. Indeed, it is the hope of the FYP faculty that our understanding of the theme will evolve and deepen as we return to it throughout the year. The program's success, in large part, will be measured by our collective willingness to engage the theme through our common experiences. This requires that we be open to new ideas and fresh points of view at the same time that we develop our ability to think about them critically. This also holds true for the FYP faculty, since they are also engaging the theme and most of the common readings for the first time. The FYP seminars will enable us to address thematic questions from different discipline-based perspectives and, in turn, will give us an unusual opportunity to reflect on these disciplines from a broader perspective that transcends the traditional divisions between areas of knowledge.
The co-curricular component will consist of a variety of activities
that take place outside of class, including plays, concerts, lectures,
movies, field trips, and events and discussions in Hanselman, the
residence hall for all FYP students.
To believe or not to believe: What is the evidence?
The discipline-based work in this seminar concerns the branch of
mathematics known as statistics. Roughly speaking, statistics is about
translating large amounts of numerical data into forms that are useful
to people who might care about the data. For example, a patient who
is presented with the option of taking a new medication would want to
know information about its effectiveness, but would not want to be
presented with unprocessed numerical information about an extensive
drug trial. This is where statistics comes into play. Because
statistics is about the real-life interpretation of information and
not just about the underlying mathematical calculations, we will
have to do more than learn how to calculate. We will have to
understand the real-world context that caused us to look at the
data.
The Classroom
In addition to lectures, we will have discussions involving the entire
class, and we will regularly break up into assigned groups of 3-4
students and use a ``small group'' discussion format. The primary
goals of these sessions are to have more people actively involved in
the discussion and to promote peer learning. We will often take a
``discovery'' approach rather than a traditional ``lecture/read the
text'' approach. It will be important for us to free ourselves from
the constraints imposed by thinking of mathematical problems as things
to do after reading a section of a text or attending a lecture. Both
the general emphasis on discussion and the particular emphasis on the
discovery method mean that you will have ample opportunity to be
active participants in the class and, more importantly, in developing
your own understanding and insights into the subject matter.
FYP Journals
As part of the course requirements, you will have to keep an academic
journal. This is not a personal diary or log of classroom activities,
but rather a place for you to reflect on discussions and activities
related to the program or current events on and off campus in light of
the program. You might use it to continue a discussion we began in
class, to react to a lecture or film you saw, in connection with the
program or in another context, or to make connections between the
class material and material from other classes. You should think of
this as a public document, which I will be reading and which you
should be willing to show to members of the class. I will often
suggest topics for journal entries. In addition, you will be required
to write entries on a number of the common events, which will be
determined as the semester progresses. As a general rule, you must
make at least two journal entries each week. I will collect the
journals once a week, usually on Fridays, and will make written
comments and pose questions for further thought. I will be reading
your journals for content and not style. Nonetheless, you should take
care with your writing as others will be reading it on occasion. An
overall evaluation of your journal will be part of your final grade,
but I will not grade individual entries.
Assignments and Grading
There will be four types of regular assignments during the semester,
the FYP journals (described above), 2 papers of 3-5 pages concerning
the common readings (due Friday, September 15 and Friday, October 27),
individual statistics assignments, and collaborative statistics
assignments based upon the group-work in class. There will also be an
in-class mid-term exam in on Monday, October 4 and a final exam during
the exam period. The format of the final exam will be announced later
in the semester.
Note that the Class Participation component includes attendance at
co-curricular events. There will be an average of one event per week.
It is strongly recommended that you attend as many of the events as
possible. Attendance is mandatory at the events that are central to
the program or to this class. The co-curricular events will be
discussed in class. A list of events that have been scheduled is
given at the end of the syllabus.
Grading Scheme:Texts:
Class Participation and Journal 15 % Individual and Group 20 % Statistics Assignments Short Papers 25 % Due September 15 and October 27 Mid-term Exam 15 % October 6, 2000 Final Exam 25 % December 12, 2000 Total 100 %
Common Readings:Texts for To believe or not to believe:
- The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Scribner, 1995.
- The Edges of the Field. Joseph Singer. Beacon Press, 2000.
- Three Mozart Libretti: The Marriage of Figaro. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Dover 1993.
- Statistics. David Freedman, Robert Pisani and Roger Purves. Norton, 3rd Edition, 1998.
Schedule of Readings, Papers and Exams
The common texts should be read by the first day they are discussed in class. Particular readings in Statistics will be assigned weekly.
Schedule of Events and Activities:
This schedule is as of August 30, 2000. There will be additions to the schedule as the semester progresses.