Welcome
to the Home of
mifami.org,
the web-site of D. Newsome.
List of Current
and Recent Classes
2019
2019
2018
Annandale
BLC190
– Algebra, Trigonometry, and Functions
Annandale
2015-2017
Under Construction
Science in the Golden Age of Islam
Darwin in Context - NEW for 2014
Bard College -
BPI
This class
focuses primarily on the theories and opinions immediately preceding and
following Darwin and Wallace
as well as the
theories of Darwin and Wallace themselves.
Readings include al-Biruni, Burnet, Godwin, Malthus, Hutton, Chambers,
Lyell, Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace, Mendel, Spencer, Tylor, Galton, Wells, Fisher,
Marx, Huxley, Ehrlich, and Dawkins.
Origins of Modern Science - 2014
Bard College -
BPI
This class
covers the history of science (mostly European) from ca. 1450–1750 and
includes some limited mathematical discussions.
[Students
should be familiar with trigonometry.]
Citizen Science - 2013 and 2014
Bard College -
BPI
This course is
designed to find common ground between the sciences and the humanities. The main focus is infectious
diseases.
Basic cell
biology, evolutionary theory, laboratory methods, public health, scientific ethics,
scientific communication,
antibiotic
resistance, and HIV are among the many topics discussed.
Medieval
Natural Philosophy-2013
Bard College -
BPI
This course
mainly focuses on natural philosophies written in Latin and Arabic (in English
translation) spanning ca. 750-1460.
Specific topics include astronomy, optics, medicine, anatomy,
physiology, geology, and physics.
This class
introduces much of the natural philosophical background necessary
to read and
understand the ideas presented in Ibn Tufayl's Hayy ibn Yaqzan, which we read at the end of the course.
Science Across Cultures – 2012 and 2013
Interdepartmental
Seminar INSM 3940
Columbia
University – Co-taught with
George Saliba
This
course focuses on the natural philosophy of the Middle Ages–both European
and Islamic.
Themes
include astronomy, medicine, physiology, optics, physics and more broadly
causation and the flow of ideas between and amongst cultures.
Citizen
Science – 2013 and 2014
Bard College,
Annandale
This course
bridges the gap between the sciences and the humanities focusing on the
specific topic of infectious diseases.
There is a
wet-lab component, a methods unit, a unit on HIV, and another on bioethics,
however, this only scratches the surface of what we cover.
Making a
Scientific Revolution – 2012
NYU – Gallatin School
This course focuses mainly on the continuum of ideas flowing from
Classical to Middle Ages and then into the Early Modern period. Scientific themes
include mathematics, music theory, astronomy/astrology, perspective/optics,
alchemy/chemistry, atomism, medicine/physiology, and physics. Readings
include Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Ptolemy, Galen, Plotinus, Boethius,
Al-kindi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Ibn Tufayl, Averroes, Thomas Aquinas, Buridan,
Oresme, Vesalius, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Leibniz.
HHS 130B (Fall 2011) - A
History of Science and Technology: HoST
Stevens Institute
HHS 130E (Fall 2010) - A
History of Science and Technology: HoST
Stevens Institute
Also taught at Stevens
InstituteÉ
HHS123 (Fall 09) - History of
European Society and Culture to 1500 or 1800
HHS130ev (Fall 08) – A
History of Science and Technology: HoST
HHS369ev (Fall 08) –
A History of a Scientific Revolution: SciRev
I have also taught Word Civilizations
classes covering all periods [early, middle, and modern] at John Jay College
A Selection of Interesting Student
Projects
Writing across the Curriculum at
City Tech (CUNY)
Writing Chemistry Lab
Reports at City Tech
Publications
Newsome, Daniel. "The Math, Music, Metaphysics, and Mysticism of the Quadrivium: The Four Paths to a Theory of Structure." In Science, Technology, and the Humanities: A New Synthesis, edited by Lisa M. Dolling. Greenfield, MA: Jensen/Daniels Publishers, 2011.
Deiner, L. Jay; Newsome, Daniel;
Samaroo, Diana. Journal of Chemical
Education, v89 n12 p1511-1514 Dec 2012
Directed Self-Inquiry: A Scaffold for
Teaching Laboratory Report Writing- 2012
Quadrivial
Pursuit Media Outlet (2011)
Quadrivial Trivia of the moment.
Click
Here for a Sound Demo [328 KB]
or
Here [2.5
MB]
if that one didn't work.
Past Class Syllabi [From an old domain – many
of deeper links are dead, but the general schedules have been updated and
reposted.]
Reinventing the Wheel and Other Tall Tales
Under Construction
