BSc: History
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History
- Course name: History
- Course number: HSS601
Course characteristics
Short Discription
The course belongs to the area of humanitarian studies. In particular it deals with the history and culture (in its specific aspect that is science and technology). The course is divided into two parts: history of science and technology from early civilizations to early 17th century and modern science and technology (starting from the scientific revolution of 17th century). This academic discipline also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.
Key concepts of the class
- Origins of science and its connection with technology in different periods of human’s history
- Science and society: how one impacts another and vice versa
- Scientific revolution: its nature, causes and consequences for the history of science • The role of Russian science in the World scientific progress
What is the purpose of this course?
The main purpose of this course to make the student aware of basic notions of mathematical programming and of its importance in the area of engineering.
Course Objectives Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy
What should a student remember at the end of the course?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to
- Main achievements of ancient and medieval science
- Key scientific revolutions from 17th to 20th centuries and their main directions • Technological inventions underlying modern human civilization
- Main stages of IT development
What should a student be able to understand at the end of the course?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to
- Features of scientific development at different stages of human history
- Logic of the development of the scientific revolution
- Relationship of scientific and technological progress in the history of mankind • Social factors influencing the development of science and technology
- Role of Russian science in the history of world science and technology
What should a student be able to apply at the end of the course?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to apply:
- Use some methods of the humanitarian studies and their professional field
- Find and critically analyze information relevant to professional development • Evaluate the possible prospects of a particular scientific and technical product from a historical point of view
- Argue personal position on the development of science and technology
Course evaluation
The course has two major forms of evaluations:
| Component | Points |
|---|---|
| Labs/seminar classes | 30 |
| Interim performance assessment | 30 |
| Exams | 40 |
Grades range
| A. Excellent | 90-100 |
| B. Good | 75-89 |
| C. Satisfactory | 60-74 |
| D. Poor | 0-59 |
Resources and reference material
Reference Materials:
- Textbook: Merlin H. The History of Science/ Britannica Educational Publishing Staff. – Rosen Education Service, 2013 (ISBN: 9781622751167).
- Textbook: raham L. Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History. — Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Computer Resources:
Academic policy
- Studying not only by passive learning while listening to lectures and taking notes but also by means of searching in Internet and working with audio or video-based material self-reliantly • Participations and readiness to share your own opinion with the class
- Readiness for work in the class: try not to fall behind
- Respect for each other in the class
- To be reflective. Think about what's working and what's not, and take responsibility for helping to make your work in the class more effective
- Honesty with the teacher and fellow students
Submission Policy
For passing intermediate tests and written works there are fixed certain deadlines (within two weeks after the date of the beginning of the work). Submission not on time leads to a decrease in points for work by 20 %. Completing less than 50% of the task results in zeroing the result and requires retaking (only one attempt is allowed with a decrease in the score by 20 %).
Course Sections
The main sections of the course and approximate hour distribution between them is as follows:
| Section | Section Title | Teaching Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to the history of science. Science and technology of ancient civilizations | 4 |
| 2 | Science and technology in Medieval Europe, Asia and America from 6th to 14th centuries | 4 |
| 3 | Scientific and technological progress in the era of Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) | 4 |
| 4 | Scientific revolution of the 17th century and science in the age of Enlightenment | 4 |
| 5 | Industrial revolution of the 19th century: the role of science and technology | 4 |
| 6 | Science and technology from late 19th to the middle of 20th centuries: formation of non-classical science | 4 |
| 7 | Modern science and technology: the role of IT | 6 |
Section 1
Section title: Introduction to the history of science. Science and technology of ancient civilizations
Topics covered in this section
- the concept of science and technology and their role in the history of civilization - scientific knowledge of the pre-civilization period and the first *ancient Eastern civilizations - features and main achievements of Greek and Roman science
- ancient technologies and the problem of their loss
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 1 |
| Reports | 0 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 1 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- What is the science and technology? Why is it important to study their history?
- What we owe to the science of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and India?
- What were the main features of ancient science? What were the reasons for its decline?
- What are the main technical achievements of the ancient world?
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Discussion – “Paleocontact hypothesis: pro et contra”.
- Inventions ahead of their time: the problem of the demand for technology in the ancient world.
- Problem of the beginnings of science: existing theories.
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- The problem of the emergence of science in the ancient world. Typical features of ancient science and technology.
- The development of astronomical and mathematical knowledge in the ancient world.
- Ancient technologies and the problem of their loss.
Section 2
Section title: Science and technology in Medieval Europe, Asia and America from 6th to 14th centuries
Topics covered in this section
- Main features of the Medieval science
- Chinese and Arab science and their impact on European
- Science and technology of Medieval Europe
- Scientific and technological achievements of pre-Columbian American civilizations
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 0 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 1 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- How has the man's attitude to nature changed in the Middle Ages? Why does the method of experiment appear in the Middle Ages?
- What are the main achievements of Arab and Chinese science? How they influenced European science?
- How was medieval science related to Christian doctrine? What was the significance of the emergence of universities in Europe during the Middle Ages?
- What are the main scientific and technical achievements of pre-Columbian American civilizations (Maya, Inca and Aztec)?
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Middle Ages: Era of Decline or Development of Science? (discussion)
- Impact of the Crusades on the development of European science (report)
- Strategy and tactics of medieval armies: the evolution of military technology (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- Education and its connection with science in the Middle Ages.
- Heritage of Arab and Chinese science.
- Medieval ideas about space and the place of man in the universe.
Section 3
Scientific and technological progress in the era of Renaissance (15th-16th centuries)s
Topics covered in this section
- The Age of Discovery: the exploration of new territories.
- The emergence of scientific anatomy and chemistry.
- Revolution in astronomy: N. Copernicus, I. Kepler, G. Galileo.
- Technical achievements of the Renaissance
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 1 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 0 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 0 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- What changes have occurred in the scientific view of the Renaissance? What is humanism and on what basis does it arise?
- What were the prerequisites and reasons for the great geographical discoveries? What were the most important geographical expeditions of the 15th-16th centuries and what discoveries were made as a result?
- How did scientific anatomy originate in Europe? What is the significance of William Harvey's discoveries?
- What was the revolutionary nature of Copernicus's discovery and why was it not recognized during his lifetime? What laws of planetary motion was able to formulate I. Kepler? How did G. Galileo manage to prove the validity of the Copernican hypothesis? Midterm test based on the questions of the first 3 sections.
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Inventions in navigation that made long-distance ocean voyages possible (report) 2. Model of the Universe in the works of D. Bruno (report)
- Leonardo da Vinci – a technical genius or a visionary? (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- Preconditions and reasons for the discovery of America.
- The development of astronomical knowledge and its impact on the transformation of the scientific views of the inhabitants of Medieval Europe.
Section 4
Scientific revolution of the 17th century and science in the age of Enlightenment.
Topics covered in this section
- Signs of the coming of the Modern Time. Recognition of science: the emergence of scientific societies and academies.
- Chemistry and Natural Science in the 17th-18th centuries.
- Advances in maths and physics in the 17-th-18th century.
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 0 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 1 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 0 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- What is “Protestant Ethic” and what are its features? When and why does science become a socially recognized phenomenon?
- What system of classification of all living things did Karl Linnaeus suggest? Which scientist was the first to put forward the idea of the evolution of living organisms?
- What mathematical discoveries made possible the formation of a mechanistic picture of the world? What is the significance of Isaac Newton's discoveries? What experience did L. Galvani set and what was its significance?
- What is the difference between J. Watt's steam engine and T. Newcomen's steam engine? How did the lathe change in the 18th century?
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Essay on the personality of one of the scientists of the Early Modern period.
- French Enlightement and its role in the development of science (Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and Montesquieu) (report)
- Emergence of Russian science: Saint Petersburg Academy of science and the researches of M.V. Lomonosov (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- Scientific revolution of Early Modern Europe: formation of the mechanical philosophy.
- The influence of the development of science and technology on the emergence of the Enlightenment.
Section 5
Industrial revolution of the 19th century: the role of science and technology
Topics covered in this section
- Development of the education system and the formation of the disciplinary structure of science
- Physics in the 19th century: discoveries in classical thermodynamics and electrodynamics
- Chemistry and biology in the 19th century. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
- The development of technology in the "age of the industrial revolution".
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 0 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 1 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- How and why did science acquire a disciplinary character? What new educational institutions appeared at this time?
- What was the significance of the discoveries of J. Joule and R. Brown for classical thermodynamics? What is the significance of H. Oersted's experiment? Why did M. Faraday's discovery cast doubt on the mechanistic philosophy?
- What is the significance of the periodic table of elements of D. I. Mendeleev? Who was the founder of modern microbiology and immunology? On what concepts was Charles Darwin's theory of evolution based?
- What were the main stages of using the steam engine in industry and transport? When and by whom was the internal combustion engine invented? How did the communication system of the 19th century develop?
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- The role of science and technology in transforming Western Europe into the intellectual center of the world (discussion)
- Research in 19th century medicine: germ theory of disease (report)
- Polzunov or Watt: who was the creator of the steam engine? (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- The development of transport in the 19th century and its role in changing the way of life in Europe.
- The folding of industrial society in the 19th century.
Section 6
Science and technology from late 19th to the middle of 20th centuries: formation of non-classical science.
Topics covered in this section
- A revolution in physics: radioactivity and the atomic model, quantum mechanics.
- General theory of relativity and astrophysics.
- Discoveries in genetics and medicine of the first half of the 20th century.
- Technological progress in the late 19th - first half of the 20th centuries.
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 1 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 0 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 1 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- Why by the end of the 19th century can we talk about the crisis of "classical science" and what were its symptoms? How radioactivity discovered and what was the significance of this discovery? What models of the atom were proposed at the beginning of the 20th century?
- What is the significance of A. Einstein's theory of relativity? What astronomical phenomena could it predict? How was the expansion of the universe discovered and what were its first scientific models?
- Who is considered the founder of genetics and why? When and how did the first antibiotics appear?
- When did the first radio broadcast take place? Who is the inventor of television? What were the first flying machines? How did the world wars affect the development of science and technology?
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Weapons that changed the methods of warfare at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (report)
- Struggle for the atom: the creation of atomic weapons and the use of atomic energy (discussion)
- From daguerreotype to photography and from silent cinema to modern television (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- The role of the theory of relativity in shaping the modern worldview.
- Radioactivity and its study: implications for the world in the 20th Century.
- The development of astronomy in the 20th century and its influence on the formation of the modern worldview.
Section 7
Modern science and technology: the role of IT
Topics covered in this section
- "Post-non-classical science": new forms of organization of science and technology
- Modern physics: problems of substance and space research
- Revolution of the second half of the 20th century in genetics and microbiology
- Information revolution at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries: perspectives of information technologies
What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section?
| Yes/No | |
|---|---|
| Development of individual parts of software product code | 0 |
| Homework and group projects | 0 |
| Midterm evaluation | 0 |
| Testing (written or computer based) | 1 |
| Reports | 1 |
| Essays | 0 |
| Oral polls | 0 |
| Discussions | 1 |
Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section
- What are the characteristic features of "post-non-classical science"?
- What is the meaning of the quark hypothesis and how does it explain the structure of matter? What tasks are being set for the Large Hadron Collider and the International Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor?
- What discoveries in genetics in the 1940s produced the decoding of the DNA molecule? What discoveries paved the way for genetic engineering?
- What are the major generations of computers in the 20th century? How did the creation of the Internet begin? What are the prospects for the development of information technology? Final testing based on the questions of all sections.
Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section
- Science and technology as a factor in modern geopolitics (discussion)
- What opportunities open up nanotechnology for humanity? (report)
- Genetic editing and bioethics issues (report)
Test questions for final assessment in this section
- Study of the microcosm and its influence on the development of technology in the XX XXI centuries
- The development of communications and the formation of a modern lifestyle.
- IT technologies and their perspectives.