"Intelligent Life in the Universe"-A "Non-Survey" Approach to the Traditional Survey Course for Nonsclence Majors Chemistry 140 at East Texas State University is a one-semester course intended to meet the physicalscience requirement for nonscience majors. For the last few years, selected sectionsof thiscourse (usuallythe Honors Section) have been organized around the theme "Intelligent life in the Universe," using, as a text, the book of the same name by I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan [A Delta Book, Dell Publishing Company, New York, 19661. Similar courses have heen taught a t other Universities, but usually by Physics Departments [G. Cain, Phys. Teacher, 13.404(1975)]. Courses of this type should have four aims: 1) To give the students some idea how science (and scientists) operate. 2) To acquaint them with some of the basic facts a i d concepts of science. 3) To develop their ability to read material on current develo~mentsin science. written for a non-technical. hut educated. audience. 4) To hold their attention lone ..enoueh to accompliih the first three aim3 Shklowkii and Sagan'r drscuvvion ofthe question: "Hon can we estimate the prollatdity that there are other intelligent heings in our univene?," is an extended demon~trationuf how science gws a h u t answering a major queutiun. In the course of lmking at what we know ahout life, intelligence, and the universe, mmt of the cuncepts that would he included in the usual physical science survey course are covered, hut in such a way that they arise naturally from the process of trying to answer the question. Frequent use is made of readings taken from current articles in Scientific American, The New York Times, Saturday Reuiew, Time Magazine, and similar publications. The final examination, a reading exam using similar material, indicates that the goals can be accomplished for most liberal arts students.
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A paper describing this course waspresented a t the Southwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, El Paso, Texas, December, 1973. East Texas State University Commerce, 75428
252 1 Journal of Chemical Education
