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Students
who have taken Astronomy 3 or its equivalent are encouraged to consider
this course, taught jointly by UCLA astronomer Mark Morris and science
writer KC Cole, who has written several popular books and who has for
many years been a writer for the Los Angeles Times. This course will examine
first-hand how science developments are chosen and reported to the public
at large. Topical and current scientific issues will be presented and
explained from the perspective of a scientist, and their coverage in various
media will then be critically examined. The issues chosen will be a mix
of several selected in advance, and those that arise in real time during
the course of the quarter as a result of press releases. The roles of
scientists' personal agendas, scientific politics (that is, funding exigencies),
media priorities, editorial judgments, and the public's demand for interesting
and exciting material will all be weighed when examining the coverage
of each of the scientific issues. Furthermore, the effect of the public's
incomplete understanding of the scientific method will be considered in
examining how science is reported and how it is received. Students will
be challenged to identify the elements that give value to a media presentation,
and whether such elements are present or absent in the articles being
considered.
The goals
of the course are:
- to convey
an appreciation of some of the more exciting and modern developments
at the cutting edge in the accessible and visible field of astronomy,
- to instill
a capacity for critical analysis of news items that will be a useful
tool throughout the students' lives and applicable across all sciences
and beyond, and
- to offer
a window into the process by which science is publicized, from the perspectives
of all the players.
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