Well, I thought it went ok. The students laughed in the right places, and were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the other places. So we’ll see. The acid test is whether the class room is more or less full next time.
The answers to the question ‘Name a living scientist’ were as few as I had been warned. Even Craig Venter goes unnoticed. More surprising yet, none of the students had heard of Bill Bryson. Now there’s a different course. Fix his ‘Short History of Nearly Everything‘ as a set text and work through it. I wonder if that would cover most of the factual knowledge that a scientifically literate person should know. Probably. Must re-read the book and see. Particularly the illustrated edition, although that seems hard to get hold of.
But to more important things. To test the polling software, we asked for views on my shirt. The answer is here. Interesting outcome. My wife chose the shirt. It is the ONLY one I have that gets comments. I hope it has loosened the students up as much as it loosens me up.
Even more important, check the reasons the students give for not doing science degrees. Sigh. School teachers have a hell of a responsibility.
I wish I had been there for the first class. I was previously taking S T S 100: The Ascent of Humanity, but I was persuaded by a friend to join this class and I am certainly not disappointed. I have read a little bit of Bryson, but not enough to give a fully formed opinion on his work although I hear it’s great. I’m looking forward to learning from someone who seems to love what they teach.