Junior Practicum
Spring 2012
Syllabus
This class will be largely based on TED talks, to be found on the Internet. Students will watch the presentation online and take notes; then we’ll watch together in class, discuss the topics and the vocabulary. Students will also required to make short presentations and present them to the class. The class will provide feedback.
Grades will be based on homework and presentations (20%), midterm (30%) and finals (40%).
Note: most talks will be about 10 to 20 minutes.
There will be a Course Package for this class, to be bought or downloaded.
Provisional Class Schedule
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Unit 1 – Harald Haas - Wireless Data
Week 3: Unit 2 – Annie Murphy Paul -What we learn before birth
Week 4: Unit 3 – Positive Psychology
Week 5: Unit 4 – Dan Gilbert on Happiness
Week 6: Unit 5 – Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche - Cooking as Alchemy
Week 7: Unit 6 – Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce
Week 8: Midterm Exams
Week 9: Unit 7 – Liberal of Conservative
Week 10: Unit 8 – Paul Bloom on The Origins of Pleasure
Week 11: Unit 9 – Denis Dutton - A Darwinian theory of Beauty
Week 12: Unit 10 – Pamela Meyer - How to Spot a Liar
Week 13: Unit 11 – Dan Pink on Motivation
Week 14: Unit 12 – Rifkin on the Empathic Civilization
Week 15: Review
Week 16: Final Exams
Albert Einstein
Unit 1
Introduction to the Class
What we will do in this course
Step 1
Watch the lecture at home.
You study the vocabulary at home. Take out between 15-20 vocabulary items from the talk.
Give one example with each of them (written).
Step 2
In class
Discuss your vocabulary example with each other.
Step 3
We watch the TED talk once or twice.
Step 4
Discuss the questions with your partner or a small group.
Step 5
Step in front of the class and tell us, in about 1-2 minutes, the idea that you liked from this lecture.
If you absolutely hated the TED talk, you can say ‘pass,’ but you must give the same number of ‘little talks’ as every other student in this class. Before another student has done their second talk, you must deliver your first.
Harald Haas: Wireless Data from every light bulb
Questions for Discussion:
1. How many cellular radio masts are there?
2. What is the first issue?
3. What is the second issue?
4. What are the other two issues?
5. Briefly describe the different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
6. What is the difference between an LED and a normal light bulb?
7. What is SIM OFDM? What does it do?
8. What are the four main benefits of this new technology?
9. What are the potential applications of this technology?
10. What do you think? How could this work?
Unit 2
Annie Murphy Paul: What we learn before we are born
Questions for discussion
1. What is fetal origins?
2. What do babies learn in the womb? What is the first thing?
3. How do we know that?
4. How do babies cry?
5. Describe the carrot juice example.
6. And the anise example.
7. What is the fetus learning in the uterus?
8. Describe the Western Holland example. Why did those babies have problems later in life?
9. What are the implications of that for North Korea?
10. Describe the 9/11 example.
11. What are the implication of this lecture for what a pregnant woman does, or should do?
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