Incorporating Philosophy of Science in Physics for Non-science Majors

A website to accompany a talk presented at the 2007 Summer AAPT Meeting in Greensboro, NC on July 28-August 1, 2007.

by Todd Timberlake, Berry College

[Overview] [EBAPS Results] [Class Notes] [Assignments]

Overview

 This website is intended to supplement a talk that was given at the 2007 Summer AAPT meeting in Greensboro, NC. The slides of the talk are available via this link. The talk describes my attempt to incorporate instruction in the philosophy of science into my physics course for non-science majors and to test the impact of this using the EBAPS survey. This web page provides additional data from my EBAPS surveys as well as some of the course materials that I used to introduce students to the philosophy of science.

All of the files listed on this page are PDF files, which require the free Adobe Reader program (or other PDF display software such as Apple's "Preview") to view.

EBAPS Results

 Click here to download a pdf file (88 KB) detailing the results of my EBAPS surveys in 2006 and 2007. Note that in 2006 I did not incorporate any philosophy of science material in this course, but in 2007 I did. For more information about the EBAPS survey please visit the EBAPS home page

Class Notes

 The table below contains links to some of the notes on the philosophy of science that I presented in my class. Along with each link is a brief description of the contents of the notes, as well as the format and size of the file.

File Link Description of File Contents Format/Size
1PhilosophyScience.pdf Introductory notes on the philosophy of science delivered at the very beginning of the class. PDF/84KB
2PhysicsTools.pdf Notes on how physicsits approach the study of the world. PDF/56KB
3NewtonWorld.pdf Notes on the Netwonian worldview. PDF/64KB
SciencePrinciples.pdf Notes on science, pseudoscience, and non-science handed out just after class discussions on the nature of science and pseudoscience. PDF/64KB
SchrodingersCat.pdf Notes on quantum mechanics and its implications for our view of reality. PDF/248KB

Assignments

 The table below includes links to handouts for a few of the assignments from my PHY 101 course that included philosophy of science components. These assignments forced students to think about how topics in the philosophy of science related to the physics experiments and activities they were doing in class. Each link is accompanied by a brief description of the assignment as well as the file format and size.

File Link Description of File Contents Format/Size
Lab1_SimplePendulum.pdf A laboratory activity on the simple pendulum to illustrate how models are used and tested in physics. PDF/76KB
WorkEnergy.pdf A class activity on work and energy that incorporates a few questions relating to philosophy of science. PDF/84KB
Project1HO.pdf Handout for a group project in which each group of students must conduct and evaluate their own scientific experiment. PDF/28KB
Project2HO.pdf Handout for a group project in which each group of students must research and evaluate a potentially pseudoscientific topic. PDF/32KB

[TODD TIMBERLAKE'S RESEARCH WEBPAGE]
Todd K. Timberlake (ttimberlake@berry.edu)