Summer 2005 Tonja Wissinger

BIS 3320 Office: GR 2.604

MW 1:00-5:00 Telephone: 972.883.2814
GR 2.816 E-mail: twissin@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: MW 12:30-1:00 & 5:00-5:30

The Nature of Intellectual Inquiry

This course is concerned with the systematic study of science and the
academic experience. Science is part of the search for knowledge and each
approach to science contributes to the totality of knowledge. BIS 3320 will
assist students in understanding the pervasive influence of science in our
culture and will increase the student’s breadth of intellectual inquiry. In
addition, the class is designed to assist the students in understanding the
importance of clear communication, documentation, and the use of detailed
information to support arguments.

Required Texts

Sophie’s World Jostein Gaarder

Aging with Grace David Snowdon
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Course Requirements:
1. Attendance and class participation. Class participation means
arriving on time, contributing to discussions, and active listening.
Bring your textbooks, notebook paper, and a pen to each class
session.
*If you are unable to attend class, you are responsible for obtaining
the lecture notes from another class member.
*Attendance will be taken twice during each class session (before
and after the break). Missing class will have an adverse effect on
your final grade.
2. Completion of assigned readings prior to class.
3. The written assignments.
*The assignments will be explained on the first day of class and
discussed throughout the semester. Late assignments will receive
a substantially lower grade.
 **Written assignments must be well organized, free of spelling
and grammatical errors, double-spaced, and printed in a 12-14
font. Handwritten work will not be accepted. Do not e-mail the
written assignments to me.

Your course grade will be based on the average of the proposal (10%), the
annotated bibliography (20%), a 12-14 page paper (50%), and class
participation (20%). There will be no extra credit work.
In addition to the requirements listed above, I expect every student to
review the course schedule and catalogue for information on withdrawals,
incompletes, and academic dishonesty. Remember that academic dishonesty
includes cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and falsifying academic records. I
expect all work to reflect each student’s individual efforts. If you have any
questions about this, please see me.

Schedule:

Thurs. June 23 Introduction

Tues. June 28 Lecture

Exercise: Autobiography
Discussion: Sophie’s World (SW), chapters 1-3.

Thurs. June 30 Lecture

Library Tour
Discussion: SW, chapters 4-7.

Tues. July 5 Lecture

Discussion: SW, chapters 8-11.
Discussion: Snowden, prologue and chapters 1-2.
**Proposals are due!

Thurs. July 7 Lecture

Discussion: Snowdon, chapters 3-4.
Discussion: SW, chapters 12-15.
**Proposals are returned.

Tues. July 12 Lecture

Discussion: SW, chapters 16-19
Discussion: Snowden, chapters 5-6.
Thurs. July 14 Lecture
Discussion: SW, chapters 20-23.
Discussion: Snowden, chapters 7-8.
**Revised Proposals and Annotated
Bibliographies are due!

Tues. July 19 Reading: “The Perils of Obedience”

http://remus.rutgers.edu/~rhoads/PerilsofObedience.html
Reading: The Stanford Prison Experiment
http://www.prisonexp.org
Discussion: SW, chapters 24-27.
**Annotated Bibs are returned. Any needed
revisions will be indicated (due by 7-26).

Thurs. July 21 Reading: “Whose Life Would You Save?”

Lecture
Discussion: SW, chapters 28-31.

Tues. July 26 Lecture

Discussion: SW, chapters 32-33.
Discussion: Snowden, chapters 9-10.

Thurs. July 28 Lecture

Discussion: Snowdon, chapters 11-12.
Discussion: SW, chapters, 34-35.

Mon. Aug. 1 Final Papers are due!! Please bring them to my

office by 1:00.