Science
SUSTAINable ACTIVITIES for Individuals and Groups
The commonplace Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse paradigm needs help. Limiting harm is not very motivating.
- There are POSITIVE sustainable ACTIVITIES.
- Humans can actually help the 'Growth' of Diversity, Productivity and Stability! (as understood in Ecology)
- We will compile a list of individual ACTIONS and larger COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES. Please brainstorm for the list even now.
- Meeting Details: Beginning as soon as Feb. 10th, but now more likely the week of the 15th.
- We will meet in the evening, 6pm or later for about 2 hours, once per week for 4 weeks, or more if people want.
- Location: TBD, Centrally located to participants in Mpls or St. Paul; please email the location you will be coming from.
- Day of Week: not Tu, because I am taking an exco class: Voices of Rondo - Saint Paul's Historic Black Community
- Please email or call me with: days of the week that work for you, your location and if you would like to start at 6, 7, or 8pm
Organic Chemistry, Survival in the Twenty-first Century, and Rock 'n' Roll
This course will explore the diversity of natural and anthropogenic organic compounds as well as their molecular structure, physical properties, and biogeochemical dynamics. In lieu of standard textbooks on the subject of organic chemistry, all technical material will be contained in a series of detailed notes written by the facilitator which are to be published electronically. Each class meeting will consist of either a workshop or a field trip, and will be prefaced by facilitator-led discussions on topics such as industrialization, the environment, deciphering media jargon, and activism. The workshops will primarily consist of DIY projects which transform foraged and/or free materials into substances which meet important human needs. These projects will be designed to encourage human creativity, emphasize the importance of the scientific method, and will be necessarily tailored to the interests of the class. The field trips will be to businesses which exploit similar chemical phenomenon on a commercial scale for profit and/or the vested interests of the State. The course is not designed with the needs of aspiring professional scientists in mind, but rather with those of ordinary people who wish to better understand and respond to the world around them.
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Understanding Research Studies
“Studies are only as good as their methodology.”
We are bombarded with academic papers, research institute studies, surveys, government reports, studies from various other organizations, e.g. non-profits, political parties, etc., comments from pundits in the media, and articles of all sorts in print and on-line media that rely on presenting empirical data to present conclusions every day. It can be very difficult to understand many of these reports, particularly the formal studies of academics, research institutes, and government that aim to demonstrate causation.
It’s said that “knowledge is power,” but little attention has been given to the power in being a “creator of knowledge.” Authors of studies are creators of knowledge. We examine the “creation of knowledge.”
This course will present a basic primer on methodology issues in order to increase the student’s ability to understand and evaluate studies they encounter in their daily lives. It will be presented in common language and without engaging in studying the math of statistics. The course will look at these issues form a conceptual standpoint: What are the methodological issues, what do they try to get, strengths and weaknesses, and applicability to given approaches in given contexts?
Overviews of these topics will be presented: Information sources, quantitative vs. qualitative, identifying relevant factors—variables, margin of error, confidence intervals, correlation, causation, polls and survey methods, and “the scientific method.” Real factual reports in the public domain will be the main source of illustrating these issues. Prerequisites: None. Suggested readings, none required. No assignments, but instructor willing to evaluate any written work students want to submit.
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Darwin and the Origin of Species
2009 is the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species was published in 1859 and forever altered the human conception of the natural world and our place in it. This course will be an opportunity to read through the book that started the controversy and discuss it in detail. There will be plenty of time for examining the ideas of the original text and the controversies that have dogged the idea of evolution ever since.
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Introduction to Electronics
Introduction to Electronics gives a brief and condensed overview of the world of analog electronics and discrete components. This course starts from the beginning and assumes you know nothing about electronics. It is intended to give you a foundation in electronics for future studies and/or to open up job opportunities where basic electronics knowledge is useful. The book I will be teaching from is "Electronics Technology Fundamentals: Electron Flow Version second edition" by Robert T. Paynter and B.j. Toby Boydell.
What will be covered in this course:
-Component names and functions
-Engineering Notation
-Principles of electricity and electrical flow
-How to measure Voltage, Current, and Resistance
-How to read the resistor color code scheme
-Reading basic schematics
-Ohm's Law and calculating circuit values
-DC (Direct Current) Principles and Circuits
-AC(Alternating Current) Principles and Circuits
-Series, Parallel, and Series/Parallel circuitry
-Magnetism
-How to use test equipment (i.e. Power supply, Oscilloscope, Function Generator, etc.)
-Soldering
We will be doing some math exercises and we will be working with our hands from time to time. The math we will be doing is at a "pre-college" algebra level and we will be using calculators. I strongly encourage you to bring a SCIENTIFIC calculator, though I have a few to provide if needed. I encourage those without much of a technical aptitude to give the course a shot. I will be more than happy to make a techie out of you ;-)
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