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Literature of Science 1: Universal Issues Cary Honig email: caryh@school-one.org
Welcome to the Literature of Science trimester 1 google sites page. Hopefully, having an overview of what we will do and roughly when will make the class easier. This also allows me to make the suggested but not required readings available in a context that might make them more attractive. All of the assignments and due dates are available here, so I won't be making any extra copies for you. If you lose something or are absent, just about everything you need (other than the book and the play) are available here, and they're probably available online as well.
Students can take this class for English or science (non-lab) credit. The workload for English and science students is the same in this class. The syllabus linked immediately below provides the details of what we're reading and writing this trimester. Unless you're absent, the main home reading is To Your Scattered Bodies Go. If you're absent, you have to make up what we did in class that day. We'll read about science topics mostly in class. Other articles here are optional reading if you're interested in the topics.
Course Syllabus:
Every student taking this class must read and sign the source policy and abide by it. Failure to do so will lead to no credit in the class. I am not interested in what anyone at wikipedia, Sparknotes or Harvard thinks about this material. I am interested in what YOU think. You must think for yourself in this class. If you don't want to do that and perhaps occasionally struggle, don't take the class. You are always welcome to come discuss your ideas with me before writing if you are worried you are off track. I won't tell you what to write or think, but I am happy to ask you questions that might help you to focus or reorient. This is NOT a research class; it is a thinking, reading and writing class. Please respect that and trust that I respect ideas that may be flawed but original far more than ideas that are on more solid ground but that aren't yours. If you want to improve your reading, thinking and writing skills significantly this trimester (or want to earn credit), do not cheat, which is what looking for help online or elsewhere amounts to when I tell you not to do so.
For a guide to proper citation within text and bibliography (works cited), go to
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
Links under the weekly schedule are to note sheets we will use in class as well as to articles that are sometimes recommended but not required to add to your knowledge about what we are discussing in class.
Essays are due every other week and always on Wednesdays at class time. I will get first drafts back to you by the next class. Revisions should be done soon after being returned but MUST be completed by the following Wednesday unless an earlier date is specified at the end of the trimester. That gives you a full week to write and revise except for the first essay, and even then, you will have a week or most of week from when you sign up for the class and get the assignment. Essays need revision until I approve them as complete, which means you must address both mechanical and content issues I indicate on your drafts or you will be revising multiple times. One way to avoid extra revisions is to see me for help well before the due date. You must always hand in the previous draft with my comments along with revisions.
Reading assignments are always due on Mondays by class time. You are welcome to read ahead and hand in your work ahead of time. This could lead to a relaxing end of the trimester or more time to work on other things then.
Therefore, you can expect a writing assignment to be due every Wednesday (either a draft or a revision) and a reading assignment due every Monday until late in the trimester.
Late work slows down the class for everyone, so don't do your work late. This class asks you to do a reading assignment and a writing assignment each week. That's not overwhelming unless you leave them until the night before they're due, and even then, it's doable if not pleasant. You should be spreading your work over much of the week to make it easy. Please don't offer excuses. On the fourth late assignment (and each class day an assignment is late counts as a late assignment), you will receive an extra essay. The first three should cover any excuse you might have or create. Should a student reach an eighth late assignment, s/he/ze will not receive credit in this class regardless of the quality of the work. Should there be a truly valid excuse like a death or serious illness in the family, have your parent contact me beforehand so that we can work out a schedule.
If you're interested in outer space, there's a great site from Axios, which specializes in brief but meaty newletters (also on news and sports). If you're interested, go to https://www.axios.com/science/space
Week 1: We will begin reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go in class (with the rest read for homework), and we will begin our work by reviewing the class rules and what we know and would like to learn in the area of astronomy. We will begin our first unit, about time, with a chapter from Carl Sagan that puts human time into a cosmic context. This is reading we will do and discuss in class after you answer some questions and write some paragraphs. Grammar: Usage
Class work:
Carl Sagan vocab and questions about Time
Scattered Bodies ch 1-3 vocab and questions
Recommended:
Homework: This week's writing assignment is a business letter to prepare for that section of the competency exam. If you're paying attention, you should have no trouble with this and with passing that section at the first comp. taking. This simple assignment asks you to tell me what interests you about astronomy and what you would like to learn more about this trimester. I may add one of your topics late in the trimester. The draft of this is due on the first day of class, which is Wednesday, September 1. You have read chapters 1-3 of To Your Scattered Bodies Go (hereafter TYSBG) in class the first week, and answers for the next four chapters are due on for next Monday, September 6. (It's Labor Day, so email me the answers either on or before Monday to be on time.) The questions are linked below and need to be handed in by class time. Homework answers must be done on your own (I'm very good at detecting cheating, and it will cost you an extra essay the first time and credit if it ever happens again), but you can see me for help if you don't leave it until the last minute. The more thorough your answers on your reading questions, the better notes you will have for your essays about the book. Putting page numbers where you find the answers will make it much easier to find quotes when you need them for the essays. As in many books, the first chapter is the hardest to understand, so give yourself ample time for this small assignment.
Scattered Bodies ch 4-7 questions and vocabulary 24
Week 2: We will be reviewing any business letter issues that showed up in a number of the drafts so that everyone can pass it this Friday. We will continue working on our time unit, which will lead to the first essay, which students will write at home for next week. We may be able to begin our second unit about human understanding of the universe. Grammar: Apostrophes
Classwork:
A New Timeline for the Day The Dinosaurs Began to Die article19
Vocab and questions for A New Timeline . . . article
Article with great illustration of the Crater from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 19
Recommended:
Fossils Show How Mammals Filled Dinosaurs' Void 19
Homework: This week's reading assignment covers chapters 8-11 of Scattered Bodies, and as usual, it is due next Monday, September 16 by class time. Leave yourself time for the reading and thought. The reading assignments will get a bit longer after this week, so it would be a great idea to start reading ahead to make later assignments easier. Your revision of the business letter is due by class time on Wednesday, September 11, but why wait? See me if you need help with any aspect of the revision, but don't wait until the day it's due. You need to fix everything I discuss or note on your first draft to have the revision considered done. Be sure to turn in your draft with my comments along with the revision. Remember that revisions continue to be revised until they are fixed, so if you get help, it's likely to be only one revision.
Scattered Bodies 8 - 11 questions and vocabulary
Week 3.: We will hopefully have concluded the Time unit by early this week, and we will begin the second unit about the history of human understanding of the universe. We will begin with a chapter by Stephen Hawking and will also learn about the almost entirely unknown ancient Greek genius Anaximander, who was very far ahead of his time. Grammar: Agreement
Classwork:
Stephen Hawking on the history of theories about the universe vocab and questions in class
Key figures in astronomy who Hawking didn't mention
Before the Big Bang vocab and questions
Homework: This week's reading assignment requires that you read chapters 12-14 of Scattered Bodies by Monday, September 23. If you read ahead as I suggested, you are now a happier camper than your peers. If not, hopefully you will learn from this error. Your first essay (second writing assignment) is due Wednesday, September 15, and this one is based on our first unit readings and discussions about time, and you need to use quotations from the readings in writing your essay. See me ahead of time if you need help, but your notes should be everything you need.
Scattered Bodies 12 - 14 questions and vocabulary 24
Week 4: This week, when we're done with theories about the universe, we're going to consider the Big Bang and what might have been before in detail. The article is long, so we are reading it in three parts in class.
Grammar: Commas and Adverbial Clauses
Classwork:
Theories about what existed before the Big Bang
NASA's new telescope will show us the infancy of the universe '21
First images from the Webb Telescope 22
Recommended:
Why The Big Bang Produced Something 20
Early Galaxy Changes Some Thinking About Early Universe and Galaxy Formation20
Einstein's Theory of Relativity unveiled a bizarre cosmos 21
An electrifying view of the heart of the Milky Way 22
Astronomers May Have Found the Galaxy 22
Homework: This week you're reading chapters 15-18 of Scattered Bodies by Monday, September 30 at class time. Your second essay's revision is due Wednesday, September 25 with the marked up draft. See me ahead of time if you need help so that you only have to revise once.
Scattered Bodies 15-18 HW questions 24
Week 5: In class, we are likely to be finishing up with the Big Bang this week. If we're done, we will begin looking at the possibility of ETs. Are they just fun movie topics, or is there real reason to think they're out there. If so, should we be trying to contact them? We'll be reading a recent New York Times Magazine article that assesses all of this, and we'll be writing the third essay about this topic.
Grammar: Commas with subordinate conjunctions
Classwork:
Greetings, ETs! Please Don't Kill Us article
Vocab and questions for the ET article: The 3rd essay (4th writing assignment) will be about this topic.
Venus May Have Supported Life19
Recommended:
First Planet Found Orbiting 3 suns! 21
A physicist involved in SETI isn't impressed with UFO sightings 21
Pentagon official write book about the reality of UFOs 24
Homework: This week's reading assignment requires that you read chapters 19-22 of Scattered Bodies by Monday, October 7. You have essay two (third writing assignment) due this week on Wednesday, October 2 by class time.
Scattered Bodies 19-22 vocab and HW questions 24
Essay 2 Scattered Bodies characters 24
Week 6: We are still reading about the pros and cons of contacting ETs in class.
Grammar: Commas and Coordinating Conjunction
Classwork:
US Government's 2021 report on UFOs
Homework: This week's essay (2) revision is due by class time on Wednesday October 9. Don't forget to hand in the earlier draft with it.
Your reading this week is chapters 23-26 of Scattered Bodies, which is due on October 16 (due to the holiday on the 14th) along wih the draft of essay 3, which is also due on October 16. These must be in by class time even if you're taking the PSAT that day, so give them to me before the test.
Scattered Bodies ch 23-26 HW vocab and questions 24
Week 7: We are still reading about and discussing ETs as we write an essay about the wisdom of contacting them. We are learning about commas and non-essential clauses.
Classwork:
You're Asking The Wrong Question about aliens
Homework: Your reading this week is chapters 27 - end of Scattered Bodies, which is due on October 21. This week's writing assignment is essay 3, which is due on October 16.
Essay 3 ETs 24
Scattered Bodies vocab and questions 27-end
Week 8: We are finishing up with ETs this week and doing our final comma rules and review. If we have time, we will venture into Black Holes. We will also begin watching the documentary Chasing the Moon.
Classwork:
Black Hole Emits Bright Glow article
Black Hole Emits Bright Glow vocab and questions
The Most intimate ever photos of Black Holes 21
The Most intimate ever photos of Black Holes 21
Why Ed Dwight Never Became the First Black Astronaut in the '60s
Ed Dwight Finally Flies Into Space 24
Homework: This week's reading assignment is short and should interest you as it's about whether ETs have visited earth (according to scientists). The questions are due on October 28 at class time, so it may give you a pre-Halloween scare. This week's writing assignment is to revise essay 3. The revision with the previous draft must be in by class time on October 23. Be sure to get help well ahead of that date if you need it.
Have We Been Visited By ETs? 21
Week 9: We will continue to explore Black Holes (very carefully).
Grammar: Quotations and Punctuation
Classwork:
Astronomers see Flash from Black Hole article19
Astronomers see Flash vocab and questions
Recommended:
A Black Hole Threw A Star Out of the Milky Way 19
Two Black Holes Colliding Near A Third One 20
There's a new Black Hole in our backyard '20
Homework:
The final (short) reading of the trimester is (by popular demand) about Black Holes and due by class time on November 4. The final essay of the trimester is due by Wednesday, October 30 by class time and focuses on who you would look for in Riverworld.
An Earthling's Guide To Black Holes
An Earthling's Guide to Black Holes vocab and questions 24
Essay 5 - Who would you seek in Riverworld? 24
Some of us may have an extra essay due to four or more late assignments this trimester. The draft of this essay is due on Monday, November 4, and you probably can't afford any more late assignments as eight mean no credit.
Extra Essay assignment: change in Riverworld
Week 10: We will watch episode 2 of Chasing the Moon, which focuses on the Gemini program and the beginning of the Apollo program. We will finish up with black holes. Grammar: Colons and Semicolons
Classwork:
Chasing the Moon 2 questions
Homework: There is no new reading homework. This week's writing assignment is to revise your draft of essay 4. The revision must be in by 9:15 a.m. with the draft on November 12 after the holiay. Get help from me ahead of time if you're not sure how to fix anything.
Any re-revisions of previous essays must be completed satisfactorily by class time on November 4 in order to earn credit. If you owe the extra essay, the final draft must be in by 9:15 a.m. on Nov. 12 if you hope to earn credit.
Week 11: For our final astronomy topic, we will address dark matter.
Grammar: Commas with however and though
Classwork:
New Plan to Search For Earth's Twin 21
Earth Twin paragraph and vocab 21 questions
Tantalizing New Clues Into the Mysteries of Dark Matter 13
Tantalizing New Clues Into the Mysteries of Dark Matter 13 questions
Homework: Those who had the extra essay must revise that for November 15. (If any work isn't completed to my satisfaction by this time, you won't earn credit, so don't even think about leaving work until the last minute or handing in anything substandard at this point. As always, you can see me ahead of time for help to avoid extra revisions and loss of credit due to unsatisfactory work.
Week 12: We will finish up with dark matter this week and watch the final episode of Chasing the Moon, which features the moon landing in 1969. I'm including an up to the minute article about a proposed new space mission as well.
Classwork: Dark Matter's Deep Reach 15
Dark Matter's Deep Reach questions
Proposed Interstellar Mission 19
Recommended:
Possibility There Was Life On Venus 19
How To Peer Through a Wormhole 19
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