Looking for high school appropriate high interest science books

[Dirus]

I am pitching an idea to my principal for a science/literature class. I am looking for some ideas of titles or authors so I can start putting together a reading list for the class. These would be high school seniors....the higher end of the spectrum (kids having already taken chem, physics, anatomy etc and done well) Bascally looking for stuff that is relevant and generally high interest.

Ideas so far:

E.O. Wilson - Lots of good titles here
Watson - The Double Helix
Ernst Mayr - One Long Argument
Lynn Margulis - Lots of options here
Dawkins - Lots of options...but semi dangerous right now for small town U.S.

Obviously the list is life science heavy...need some more in the earth sci/physics/cosmos realm...Hawking? Greene? I jsut dont know these works all that well.

Thanks much

[Tea on tuesday]

What exactly is the goal for the class? What do you hope to achieve?

[Dildo Faggins]

What any in such philosophical classes hopes to achieve. Give the impression of greater intelligence by talking about unquantitative things in authoritative ways. Its an intellectual form of circle jerk.

[Rune]

Originally Posted by Dildo Faggins

What any in such philosophical classes hopes to achieve. Give the impression of greater intelligence by talking about unquantitative things in authoritative ways. Its an intellectual form of circle jerk.

lol <3

Speaking of which you might as well apply for the IB program endorsement.

[Kruggy]

I thought it was so he could make black powder in the 13th century.

[Tred]

And my wife is more than happy to use Captain Underpants for her ESL classes. Best part is they eat the shit right up. LOL

[Aulirophile]

Where does the "literature" part come in? Seems like you're just reading science books that were written for a more mainstream, less scientific audience. Which isn't a bad thing, reading through science journals will give anyone but a scientist in that field a headache. I like it when scientists remember to write up a book explaining their findings without the 100+ pages of references. But, since the books are written to be understandable, you can pick pretty much any ones you want if the group is reasonably intelligent. What direction are you hoping to take this in?

I'll throw out Sperm Wars. Human biology/sexuality and reproductive strategies. Don't know if it'll fly with your principal though.

[Dirus]

Yeah, literature isnt the best term there. You are correct that the idea is just to read some science books written for a somewhat mainstream audience. Books that are interesting, will lead to discussion and debate, and that most of these kids would never read otherwise.

The class would be an elective course for seniors...instead of taking 3 study halls because they have all of their credits, they take 2 study halls and a nice casual reading class.

[Tea on tuesday]

Originally Posted by Dirus

Books that are interesting, will lead to discussion and debate, and that most of these kids would never read otherwise.

I still don't understand. Let's say you read Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. Where exactly are you hoping to take debate and discussion? You can't really debate whether certain things he presents are true or not---no one will have the expertise to determine that. The class could talk about their general impressions from the book, but I don't see how that's really anything other than superficial.

If your hope is to encourage them to go out and explore all the awesome stuff going on in science, why not start by filtering out all the pseudoscientific crap that surrounds us and the general mistrust that a lot of them (statistically) will have towards science. When a huge amount of the general population believes in stuff like a 6,000 year old Earth, astrology, ESP, homeopathy, magnet therapy, and all sorts of weird things it becomes hard to properly filter out what constitutes actual science and where people should be skeptical.

If you then wanted to talk about The Elegant Universe or global warming or whatever else within the informal context of logical and scientific validity then hopefully you might inspire them to read up on some more mainstream science literature while at the same time leading them away from so many of the con artists. It doesn't have to be intensive either. If you want a laid back sort of senior elective class than there's lots of videos and stuff you can watch that are pretty entertaining---Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t, if you could get away with it.

I think the way it's structured now it's of limited educational usefulness, and that's where people like Dildo are comming from.

[Dirus]

I understand what you are saying Tea,

My thoughts on debate come mainly from the titles dealing with biology. Lynn Margulis, Dawkins, E.O. Wilson...there are many ideas presented in these works that students in small town U.S.A. might take issue with.

Dawkins/Evolution is an example. While in the scienctific community there is no debate, within the general public...and certainly more so with high school students in a highly conservative part of the county...there is alot of confusion and scepticism.

Lynn Margulis is another example as far as Gaia Hypothesis and micro bio topics. The micro-bio would provide additional education on something they may not normally find interesting if they read it from a textbook. The Gaia hypothesis would certainly lead to interesting discussion.

I completely agree that a focus on science vs psuedoscience would be a great benefit for these kids. Can you recommend titles that specifically address this topic?

[Aulirophile]

Originally Posted by Dirus

I completely agree that a focus on science vs psuedoscience would be a great benefit for these kids. Can you recommend titles that specifically address this topic?

Of all the people on this board to ask for a reading list on that topic... ToT might break the thread if he posted a full list.

There is quite a lot you could do with such a class though. Start out with a brief history of science and how it was perceived. Have the kids bring in articles about "science." I see stuff in the paper every day that isn't real science but is touted as such, even in respectable publications. Demonstrate how pervasive the issue is with people abusing the credibility of real science.

[Eomer]

homeopathy, magnet therapy

Not to derail the thread, but man do I hate that shit. I mean, you can avoid the loons that believe in creationism etc unless you're in Bumfuck America. But the number of people who believe in homeopathy and magnet therapy and similar shit is staggering, especially considering a lot of them are otherwise fairly well educated, intelligent people.

[Celebrindal]

The Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark - Carl Sagan

I'm reading this right now and I recommend it to everyone, especially for school reading material.

[Tea on tuesday]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Not to derail the thread, but man do I hate that shit. I mean, you can avoid the loons that believe in creationism etc unless you're in Bumfuck America. But the number of people who believe in homeopathy and magnet therapy and similar shit is staggering, especially considering a lot of them are otherwise fairly well educated, intelligent people.

When I took my dog to the vet, who I'd gone to for a few years, a few months ago he prescribed some medicine, which I turn paid the ridiculous $40 for. When I got home I started reading the package...god damn homeopathic remedy. I don't think I've ever been that mad in my life nor do I think that vet has been yelled at like that in a long while. I felt bad for a little bit, but then not so much...

There's also a big creationist museum opening up within 5 miles from my house shortly. God Dammit.

Originally Posted by Dirus

I understand what you are saying Tea,

My thoughts on debate come mainly from the titles dealing with biology. Lynn Margulis, Dawkins, E.O. Wilson...there are many ideas presented in these works that students in small town U.S.A. might take issue with.

Dawkins/Evolution is an example. While in the scienctific community there is no debate, within the general public...and certainly more so with high school students in a highly conservative part of the county...there is alot of confusion and scepticism.

Lynn Margulis is another example as far as Gaia Hypothesis and micro bio topics. The micro-bio would provide additional education on something they may not normally find interesting if they read it from a textbook. The Gaia hypothesis would certainly lead to interesting discussion.

I completely agree that a focus on science vs psuedoscience would be a great benefit for these kids.

Yeah, that's awesome. I think as long as when you have class debates you focus not so much on the science but whether or not their claims are reasonable or not. It'd still be awesome to discuss string theory and loop quantum gravity and evolutionary biology and cosmology informally...because it's awesome, but I think it's important that you make it clear that on many levels we can't be experts in all areas of the sprawling array of scientific knowledge. We can, however, form a good backbone of critical thinking and analysis that will allow us to better decide which claims are actually tenable.

Originally Posted by Dirus

Can you recommend titles that specifically address this topic?

Why of course. I think, for high school level, there are a couple of really good informal books for this sort of thing. This,

Originally Posted by Celebrindal

The Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark - Carl Sagan

I'm reading this right now and I recommend it to everyone, especially for school reading material.

and a more textbooky, but still very engaging; How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age. I just can't recommend this book enough. It's the one book that changed my life, as cliche as that may be. It took me from a new-agey young teenager following in my parents footsteps (reading the celestine prophecy, using pendulums, tarot cards and whatever else.) and uprooted me and gave me a firm ground to evaluate all of this stuff that I had always suspected to be wrong but just never knew why. It's also a much better book, IMO, than Shermer's and gives you definitive reasoning without resorting to the rigidness of formal logic.

Originally Posted by Aulirophile

There is quite a lot you could do with such a class though. Start out with a brief history of science and how it was perceived. Have the kids bring in articles about "science." I see stuff in the paper every day that isn't real science but is touted as such, even in respectable publications. Demonstrate how pervasive the issue is with people abusing the credibility of real science.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.

[AngryGerbil]

The Universe by Issac Asimov

If I was king, this would be required reading for everyone on earth.

(Death by Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, is a modern version of The Universe in most respects. As emperor of the world, I would accept either/or)