Syllabus
T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F B R I T I S H C O L U M B I A
ISCI 490 201 / ASTU 400M 002: Science & Civilization in Islam
Spring term, 2010
Thursday, 2:00PM to 5:00PM
Woodward G42
blogs.ubc.ca/sciencecivilizationislam
Course facilitators
Raheem Noormohamed |
Aalia Sachedina |
3rd Year Integrated Sciences |
4th Year Chemistry |
raheemn@interchange.ubc.ca |
aaliasache@gmail.com |
778 384 7861 |
604 376 1585 |
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Shafik Dharamsi, BEd, MSc, PhD
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine
Associate Director, Centre for International Health
shafik.dharamsi@familymed.ubc.ca
Honorary TA Farah Zahir PhD Canadidate, Department of Medical Genetics farahz@interchange.ubc.ca
Outline
|
1 |
Intro to Student Directed Seminars |
|
2 3 |
Originality & Plagiarism
Course Description & Course Text |
|
4 |
Class Schedule |
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5 |
Course Requirements and Evaluation |
1. Student Directed Seminars:
This page has been inserted into the course syllabus (outline) at the request of the advisory committee that oversees the program for Student Directed Seminars.
The program of Student Directed Seminars is intended to provide senior undergraduate students with added opportunities to learn in small, collaborative, group-oriented experiences. It is also the program’s goal to ensure participants, as members of a self-directed group, have a high degree of control over their own learning experience. The UBC program is modeled on an established student-directed seminar program at the University of California at Berkeley.
The program works as follows. A student (or group of students) in their third or fourth year of undergraduate study, proposes a course not currently offered at UBC. Proposals go to an Advisory Committee for review and if the proposal looks feasible, the committee encourages further development. The student proceeds to develop a course outline under the guidance of their faculty sponsor (or in some cases, multiple faculty sponsors). Student coordinators also have the benefit of a preparation workshop conducted by the UBC Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth. The Student Directed Seminar Advisory Committee considers course outlines for final approval. If approved, the student-initiated course is advertised to the general student body. All upper-level students are eligible to participate, but applicants are subject to a selection process. Normally the minimum enrollment for each class is eight, the maximum fifteen.
The Student Coordinator is not an instructor. The coordinator’s role is that of a facilitator. S/he is responsible for organizing the learning resources, such as guest lectures, reading materials, and films to be used in the class. The Student Coordinator also sets the parameters of course content, structure, and evaluation procedures in conjunction with a Faculty Sponsor. The participants have an important role in refining the details of all of these elements during the first classes of the term.
The entire class is responsible to one another for ensuring that the learning experience has a quality and richness that benefits everyone. Ultimately the faculty sponsor is responsible for the grades that are submitted for this course.
This course is subject to the normal rules and regulations, as appropriate, which apply to all UBC courses.
More details are available at the following URL:
http://leap.ubc.ca/get_ahead/student_directed_seminars/
Please contact Margot Bell, margot.bell@ubc.ca , phone: 822-9818 or Tlell Elviss, tlell.elviss@ubc.ca , phone: 822-0136 if you have any questions.
2. Originality:
All assignments must be done exclusively for this course.
Plagiarism means representing someone else’s work as your own. It is a serious offence, punishable by academic sanctions. When you incorporate the words, ideas, graphics, or other products from someone else’s work into your projects, you must give credit by providing a citation and reference to the source work. See UBC’s plagiarism policy at http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/plagiarism/
If you are wondering how close you can get to the text you are working with, etc, this guide has helpful examples: http://www.arts.ubc.ca/arts-students/plagiarism-avoided.html
3. Description
The aim of this introductory course is to study Muslim contributions to Science over the ages, in order to better understand the evolution of Science from an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective. The course will provide an academic grounding on the flourishing of scientific endeavour in Islamic societies and the role Muslim scholars have played, from the Areas of focus include historic contributions to medicine, astronomy, engineering & mathematics, the symbiosis between religion and science in Islam, and modern Muslim scientists. The course will be a culmination of guest speakers, student run presentations, discussions, and case studies.
Course Text
Science and Islam (2007) by Muzaffar Iqbal
Available at the UBC Bookstore
3. Class Schedule
Weekly readings related to each topic will be posted on the website.
Additional guest speakers will likely be procured for some topics.
| Class | Date | Description
|
| 1 | January 7 | Introduction |
| 2 | January 14 | Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Guest Speaker: Dr. Maya Yazigi The Relationship between Islam & Science |
| 3 | January 21 | Introduction to Key Events in the History of Science in Islam |
| 4 | January 28 | Institutions
The Translation Movement Language |
| 5 | February 4 | Student Presentations |
| 6 | February 11 | Student Presentations |
| Reading Week | ||
| 7 | March 4 | Student Presentations |
| 8 | March 11 | Student Presentations
The Renaissance |
| 9 | March 18 | Bioethics in Islam
Guest Speaker: Dr. Amyn Sajoo |
| 10 | March 25 | The Scientific Revolution in Europe
The “decline” of Science in Islam |
| 11 | April 1 | Islam & Modern Science |
| 12 | April 8 | Islam & Modern Science |
| 13 | April 15 | |
4. Course Requirements and Evaluation
Grades will be based on the following:
20% – Oral presentation
40% – Term Project (TBD)
10% – Wikipedia assignment
30%- To be discussed in class (Blog/ Participation/ Reading Notes)
Oral Presentation (20%)
Students (alone or in pairs) will be responsible for preparing a presentation on one of the following fields (or another field of their choice):
- The translation movement
- Medicine, Biology and/or Pharmacology
- Optics and Vision
- Chemistry
- Mathematics
- Astronomy
- Engineering
- Islam and Modern Science
The presentations should present an overview of the role of Islamic scientists and civilizations in the progress of the field. They may focus on one or more specific scientists and should outline any major contributions to the field that were made. The presentations may be in power point format or any other format of the students’ choice.
Two suggested readings for each of the topics above will be provided by the course coordinators, and the students are can find additional readings on the topic.The student must assign two readings on the topic a week before the presentation. The students must then lead a discussion of the readings, and be prepared with discussion questions.
The presentations will be peer-marked.
Term Project (40%)
To be decided by class
Option 1: Term Paper
Students will select a specific Islamic scholar who made prominent contributions to the field chosen above. The aim of the paper is to place the scholar within the historic context of their discipline, with focus on what influenced them and what/whom they influenced, and why their work is important to scientific progress.
Wikipedia Assignment (15%)
ecome more critical users of Wikipedia. Gain a sense of what makes for a good entry, and good sources. You will work on one entry on a topic related to the class that no one else in class is working on. Post the entry you have chosen on the class blog. Sooner you pick an entry to work on, the better the pickings will be and the more time you will have to think about and futz with it.
Requirements
- You must contribute a total of 500 words.
- These words may all be on one topic, or may be split amongst a maximum of 3 Wikipedia pages.
- You must add at least 3 different sources to each page you contribute to.
- You can contribute up to a maximum of 250 words to the page which is on the same topic as your presentation.
- Make all edits by March 4 at the latest and post what changes you made, with links, and, if relevant, how they were received by other editors on the class blog
How to link to version(s) you modified (rather than one with other edits): http://www.profhacker.com/2009/08/10/two-quick-points-about-wikipedia/
Wikipedia content criteria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About#Wikipedia_content_criteria
Blog Entries (5 x 2%)
Students are required to post 10 blog entries over the course of the term. Open ended questions will be given the class before and responses are expected to have been posted by the following class. The blog is meant to be an extension of class discussions, so students are encouraged to use it beyond the minimum requirement.
Attendance (5%)
Students are expected and required to attend every class throughout the term. If students must miss a class due to a valid reason (illness, emergency, etc.) they must provide the appropriate documentation to the faculty sponsor as well as e-mail the course coordinators.
Class Space
This is something that we are all responsible for making. Together we can create a space that is welcoming, safe and challenging, where we all offer each other respect and dignity. This environment should encourage participation and stimulate discussions among all students. A student directed seminar is a powerful learning opportunity that provides students to have a much more active role in their learning. For this reason, ongoing attendance and active participation will be promoted and expected in order to have an insightful seminar.
