Administrative

Notes

Getting questions answered

For general questions, please use the "Q and A" channel on Teams.
(Don't be shy: other students will appreciate the information!)
For questions about a specific grade on a worksheet, please contact Ken, your TA
For any other questions that are private or only relevant to yourself (e.g. perusall grades, accommodations, etc.), please contact me via Teams chat.
Email will work, too, but I'll usually be faster replying to Teams chat

Accessiblity

Course material, including PDFs of slides, should be accessible using a screen reader
Please bring up any accessibility issues you encounter!

Final project

Scientific poster sessions

Staple of scientific communication

Posters are often the first way that scientific findings are presented.

Distinct form of scholarly communication

Sessions are usually held at conferences, alongside more ‘prestigious’ oral presentations.
Poster sessions are mostly associated with the physical sciences, but they are becoming much more common in the social sciences and humanities.

Our poster session will be online

Virtual gallery of (anonymized) posters

A large conference hall full of aisles of scientifi posters. Many people are there, presenting and looking at the posters.

Poster session at the 111th American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Final project

Poster content

A headline (main point) related to your analysis.
A short text summary explaining what the poster is showing (secondary point).
An analysis of your topic, using at least two of the course themes.
Graphic objects/pictures/ clip art/shapes that support
the content and/or help your viewers understand how to read the poster.
References to at least four of the class readings to support your analysis.

A grid of 42 black and white photos of ears. Text at the top reads 'Oreille droite - Lobe'

Poster example from a previous year

Final project: Tasks

A close-up of a handwritten to-do list that has boxes for 'wake up' 'make coffee' 'drink cofee' and 'make more coffee'

Limit of 15 students per topic
Sign up using the “Final project sign-up” tab on Teams

Submit your topic (Due Oct 2)

Short (max 300 words) description of topic and your general approach

Peer feedback (Oct 30)

Discuss your poster with group in class and provide feedback to one another

Submit poster (Dec 2)

Upload PDF of your poster to Teams

Submit peer evaluation (Dec 6)

Submit your evaluation of the four assigned posters

Course themes

Theme 1: Scientific outcomes are social

The discoveries, inventions, publications, and ideas produced by scientists are not outside of
society.
Scientific discoveries are guided by social processes.
Scientific discoveries have social implications.
The meaning and implications of scientific ideas depends on social context.

Black and white photo of a mushroom cloud resulting from atomic bomb explosion

Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki resulting from atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. in 1945

Course themes

Theme 2: Scientific practice is social

Science is done by scientists in social settings.
Scientists live in diverse social contexts that influence their behavior, expectations, beliefs, ideals, …
Laboratories and other research institutions are themselves social settings.
Doing science involves interacting with other scientists, funding agencies, political entities, and non-scientists.

Four people in a scientific lab. One is looking through a microscope. The other three are smiling while looking at a paper document together.

Course themes

Theme 3: Science aligns with power

Science is not neutral.
Scientific questions, practices, and findings tend to align with prevailing power structures.
The veneer of objectivity in science can reinforce oppressive dynamics along racial, gender,
economic, disability, and geographic lines.

A map of the world, with countries allegedly colored by 'IQ'. North Ameria and Europe are indicated with high IQ, while Africa, Central/South America, and the Middle East are idicated with low IQ. This is an example of racist science.

Map of "IQ estimates" from Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen (2006). (note that this representation has been thoroughly debunked)

Discussion

In person

Online

Find your group

Meet with your group members at tables or outside of the classroom. Find the Teams channel for your group.

Find your group

Find the Teams channel for your group, and organize there. Can start a video meeting, voice, or only text.

Small-group discussions:

Due this Friday, Sept 20
Choose one facilitator who will keep the discussion focused and make sure everyone is able to participate.
Choose one secretary who will take notes and summarize the group’s responses for submission.
Work directly on the document available in your group chat; there is no need to submit the document

Notes:

You do not need to reach consensus on the questions. Your write-up should mention the different points your group thought were relevant. One or two paragraphs worth of text per question should be sufficient.
Please avoid bullet-point format.
You can discuss the questions in any order you like, and you do not need to respond to all of them (minimum 2). Read over them before you begin!
Refer directly to the text in your responses.

SOCI 325: Sociology of Science

Agenda