The Life Academic
jlynch | November 6, 2006Still catching up here - class preparation for tomorrow and some other material to deal with. I will, however, note that Janet has posted one of the less incriminating photos of the SciBlings at the conference. See us in our meatspace glory here.
jlynch | October 3, 2006I've been kinda quiet the past few days as I have been part of a team hosting Bernie Lightman (a noted historian of Victorian science) here at ASU. This has involved dinners, talks, trips to Arizona sites, etc. Hopefully I can get posting again soon, despite receiving papers to grade yesterday.
jlynch | September 24, 2006In November 1920, the celebrated author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle announced the beginning of a new "epoch in human thought." He believed that he was presenting "a strong prima-facie case" for the existence of fairies, based on photographs taken by two pseudonymous young girls in July and September 1917. Noting that "in a matter involving so tremendous a new departure one needs overpowering evidence before one can say that there is no conceivable loophole for error," he laid out the case for the existence of fairies in the village of Cottingley, Yorkshire. Some have seen this announcement in The…
jlynch | September 1, 2006The first two weeks of the semester are usually hell, and this year they did not disappoint. Unfortunately for me, the coming week isn't going to be any easier. I have a workshop on argumentative writing to prepare, along with a presentation to the ASU Biology & Society group (on my research interests). Both of these are due for Tuesday. For Wednesday, I have Plato's Timaeus to prepare (my first time teaching this notoriously difficult text) and Thursday sees me teaching Newton's Principia, no cake-walk either. Friday will be welcomed with open arms.
jlynch | August 23, 2006Things have been quiet here - start of the semester is alway hectic. Tomorrow (Thursday) sees my last class of the week, so I hope to get back on the wagon Thursday evening. As Pooh used to say "Ta Ta For Now".
jlynch | August 18, 2006The Fall semester officially starts tomorrow with the Fall Convocation - a meet and greet with the incoming class and their families. Next week will, like every first week, be chaos with teaching coupled with getting students back on track with their thesis research. As always, I can't decide whether I'm happy to be back teaching or not!
Teaching load this semester is as follows:
HON 172: The Human Event (2 sections) - our freshman honors seminar. This semester I'm basically going with what I taught last semester though I've added a little more literature to keep the science-phobes happier.…
jlynch | May 1, 2006Coturnix says:
Teaching Biology without Evolution...
...is like teaching English without verbs. What is left are nouns and adjectives. DNA, enzyme, long bone, ductus arteriosus, pretty bird. Rote memorization. The reason why my (adult education) students are afraid of and bored with science to begin with.
I am starting my biology lectures tomorrow. I have no control over the syllabus. The pages and chapters on evolution were removed from the syllabus. Sorry, but I am starting with evolution tomorrow night. I cannot speak English without verbs.
And I agree. Having had the same experience about…
jlynch | April 21, 2006I'm glad it's Friday - it's been a busy week. It was the penultimate week of classes, so there were loose ends to tie-up. My three thesis students defended (and passed). I had planning meetings regarding the next year or two of my teaching and scholarship, and also talked about Hume to the oldest continuous bookclub in the Valley.
Not bad, but I didn't blog! I have a weekend of grading, but can expect to make some posts.
As GrrlScientists notes, it is National Poetry Month, so I might as well share one of my favorite poems.
An Irish Airman Forsees His Death
W.B. Yeats, 1919.
I know that I…
jlynch | April 11, 2006I've been more that a little quiet the past ten days. It's nearing the end of the semester here at ASU (only 3 weeks to go), and I have been furiously working with my honors thesis students to get their manuscripts ready for defense. But they are out the door now and will be defended next week. Two are on ID (an examination of media coverage of Kitzmiller v. Dover and an examination of the "teach the controversy" claims of the DI) and the other is on the application of evolutionary theory to the law.
In addition, we're still mid-hire, so that's sucking up sometime.
And I have a deadline to…
jlynch | March 31, 2006I've been quiet the past week for a number of reasons. While course & talk preparation and more general bits & pieces have kept me busy, a huge part of my spare time (such as it is) has been given away to activities related to hiring a new lecturer here at the College. That has meant lunches, dinners, meetings, teaching demonstrations and such like. On top of that, I have page proofs of an introduction to get through, and a final examination to begin drafting (or at least the study guide for same). All very busy. But I should be back on target and posting sometime this weekend.
In…
jlynch | March 19, 2006Any readers in Arizona may be interested in the following upcoming public lecture that I will be giving on Tuesday, March 28:
Twenty Years A-Growing: Creationism Since Edwards v. Aguillard
Sponsored by ASU's Secular Freethought Society
In 1986 the Supreme Court effectively killed off "scientific creationism" with its decision in Edwards v Aguillard. Undaunted, supporters morphed into the "Intelligent Design Movement," a group which itself has received a significant setback in the recent Kitzmiller v Dover decision. This talk will examine the twenty-year development of ID, particularly…
jlynch | March 7, 2006I will be on the east coast for a brief period next week.
On Thursday March 16th, I will be giving a public talk ("Darwin, Design, and Democracy") at Colby College, Maine. The venue is the Olin Science Center, the kick-off is 7:00pm, and I'm being sponsored by Colby's Science, Technology & Society program (link).
Any readers in the area are more than welcome to come along and say "hi".
Apparently, it will be cold.
jlynch | March 3, 2006Over at Majikthise, a blog (on analytical philosophy and liberal politics) that I have just noticed, Lindsay has the following to say:
Being raised by academic hippies is like being raised by wolves--you can rejoin human society, but you can never integrate seamlessly.
That's probably true for being raised by academics in general. My daughter is, I fear, doomed.
Read the rest of Lindsay's post which includes this gem:
My uncle, the philosopher, used to be a heavy smoker. One day when I was about six, I said, no doubt irritatingly,
"If I were you, I wouldn't smoke."
He answered, "If you were…
jlynch | February 21, 2006Janet has some useful advice to students following the New York Times piece on emails from students to professors that a bunch of Sb'ers have already commented on. My favorite has to be,
"How U doin?" is generally too informal an opening for an email to your professor.
Yup. And "dude" isn't the best way to open an e-mail either.
Most of the time my students are great on e-mail. Sometimes however ...
jlynch | February 17, 2006Earlier on today I posted the following which seems to have disappeared from the page:
After spending yesterday evening preparing for classes by watching the ICR video Thousands ... Not Billions and the ID flick The Privileged Planet, I awake to read this. Randy Olson, following an MFA in filmmaking from USC, has decided that the way to improve evolution education is basically to engage in sort of dumbed-down glossiness that anti-evolutionists specialize in; all surface flash with little real depth. Olson seems to have forgotten that communicating science is difficult and it's complexity…
jlynch | February 6, 2006Janet has an interesting piece on her career change (from chemistry to philosophy) and this has prompted me to think a little about the path my career has taken since I began as an undergraduate twenty-one years ago (!).
Get an undergraduate degree in zoology with a minor in biochemistry. By sophomore year be sure that you are going to obtain the PhD, work on mammalian evolution, and get a teaching job somewhere in Ireland.
Begin a PhD project on the genetics of hybridization among deer species. Abandon it after six months because, let's face it, running gels is boring. Develop a project on…
jlynch | February 6, 2006Last week's classes on Descartes went well (as usual). This week is a little more challenging ... Newton's Principia. The reading is tough but enlightening - Newton's preface, definitions, axioms (laws of motion), the first 13 propositions of Book III, and the General Scholium. Plenty here to keep us amused, with a combination of science and design argument (the Scholium). It will be interesting to see how it goes.
On a related note, Colin Purrington has some suggestions for celebrating Heliocentrism Day (remember, kids, it's JUST a THEORY) on February 17th. And there is cake involved!…
jlynch | January 29, 2006I just don't get it. Over at Uncommon Descent, Dembski posts on a course in the philosophy of biology at the University of Bern (Switzerland) that includes a single lecture (of ten) that discusses ID, and commentators are acting like this is a big deal.
Guys, there are courses all over this country that deal with ID, though probably not in a manner that the IDists would be happy with. For example, my BIO/HPS: Origins, Evolution and Creation course has been dealing with ID since its inception in 1998 and this semester will feature over 18 hours (nearly half the course) of lectures on ID.
The…
jlynch | January 29, 2006Last week was the first real week of teaching in that it was the first week when we had content-driven classes. So Tuesday saw me walking into class for a three-hour seminar on Galileo (to be repeated again on Thursday). The reading was relatively easy - Drake's translations of Starry Messenger (1610), Letters on Sunspots (1613) and the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615) - so I expected no major problems with that. One of the most difficult things, in my mind at least, is trying to convince students about how novel Galileo's finisings were. They know about the moons of Jupiter, they…
jlynch | January 28, 2006Over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet has a nice post on the riff she gave to students this semester on plagiarism. I have to say, I too take plagiarism personally in that I cant imagine the students think I am that dumb not to be able to detect it -particularly in this day of Google and Turnitin.com. That said, I take a different tack with my (usually) honors classes - I stress the damage it will do to their future prospects. Plagiarism at ASU gets you a transcript grade of 'XE' which notes failure due to academic dishonesty. Thus, the student can kiss goodbye to any reputable…