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Exercise in Life-Long Learning

Last Updated September 10, 2004

 

Instructions:

 

You will be required to select one magazine that has a science theme and read two consecutive monthly issues of that magazine.  Potential titles include:

 

Scientific American

National Geographic

Sky and Telescope

Astronomy

Popular Science

Popular Mechanics

Smithsonian

 

Other titles must be approved by your instructor.  Just as a hint, titles such as “House Beautiful,” “Skiing Monthly,” “PC magazine,” and “Runner’s World” will not be accepted.  “Weekly World News,” amusing as it may be, is certainly not appropriate for this exercise.

 

You should read the magazines in a leisurely manner, starting with the articles that most attract your eye, but ultimately scanning every article.  Also be sure to read the letters to the editor.

 

Note: You will find this assignment to be more interesting if you and one or two other classmates select the same magazine.

 

Be prepared to discuss the following questions:

 

  1. What did you learn from the magazine that you had not been introduced to before?
  2. Did the magazine increase your interest in a particular field of science or engineering?  If so, what and how?
  3. Does the magazine have a political slant to it?  Would you consider it to be, for example, more conservative or more liberal?  What clues did you find that indicate the political leanings of the editors?
  4. Do the letters to the editor appear rational?
  5. Did any of the articles evoke particularly strong responses from the readers?  If so, which articles were these, and why did they evoke such a response?  Were you surprised that a “scientific” article could be the center of controversy?
  6. Were you able to relate any of the articles to Biomedical Engineering?  If so, how?

 

Complete a 2 page summary (ca. 500 words) of your reflections on the magazine.  You should specifically relate your summary to the questions above, but you may also discuss other questions that you consider interesting.  DO NOT simply summarize articles that you read.  Rather, consider how the articles affected you.

 

Make enough copies of your summary for the entire class.  Be sure to state the name of the magazine and the dates of the issues.  Your name should appear on each copy as well.

 

Be prepared to lead a class discussion on how the above questions relate to what you read.

 

 

BIEN 400 Senior Seminar

Steven A. Jones

Louisiana Tech University