Workshops for Undergraduate Students

Evolution and the Nature of Science
Workshop for Undergraduates
A two-hour workshop, offered on 10 different dates

Many Americans fail to distinguish between scientific research and other ways of knowing. The goal of these workshops is to help U-M undergraduates understand and express both the nature of science - as opposed to other kinds of inquiry - and how evolutionary biology fits into that picture.

Faculty and graduate student instructors may wish to encourage students to attend these important workshops by announcing them in class, offering extra credit for attendance, or offering the workshops as substitutes for appropriate class assignments (e.g. a homework problem set). Student attendance can be confirmed for the purposes of class credit. Pizza will be served.

Evolution and the Nature of Science
The two-hour workshop, offered on ten different dates, will take place at the U-M Exhibit Museum of Natural History and will include short interactive activities, discussions and a visit to the Explore Evolution exhibit.  

In the first half of each workshop, students will participate in activities and discussions exploring what makes a scientific theory, how science is different from other kinds of inquiry and research, how scientific knowledge is corrected and improved upon, and how scientists creatively formulate questions and test predictions.

The second half of each workshop explores how evolution happens and how scientists learn about it. What do we mean by evolution? What factors influence how populations change? What kinds of evidence do evolutionary scientists use? Is evolutionary research falsifiable? How do evolutionary scientists test their hypotheses? Students will use Museum exhibits to begin to answer these questions.

Time: 5:30 to 7:30 pm on the dates listed below

Registration Procedure: log on to the following URL using your UM uniqname and Kerberos password to choose your top 2 dates; we will contact you by email to verify the workshop date. Space is filling quickly - please register as early as possible. We require at least one week advance registration.

Instuctors:

Jo Kurdziel, EEB Lecturer IV and Assistant Research Scientist (josephak@umich.edu)
Kira Berman, Director of Education, Exhibit Museum (kiberman@umich.edu)
Laura Howard, EEB Ph.D. Candidate
(laurah@umich.edu)

Workshops will be offered on the following dates:

Monday, January 23
Thursday, January 26
Monday, January 30
Thursday, February 9
Monday, February 13
Monday, February 20
Thursday, March 9
Thursday, March 16
Monday, March 20
Monday, April 3

The Exhibit Museum of Natural History is located:

• On Geddes Avenue just west of Church Street, where Geddes becomes North University;
• Across the street from the C. C. Little Building and the Chemistry
  Building;
• Adjacent to the Dental School; and
• Next to the R.O.T.C. building.

Look for the two black pumas that guard our front door. While you're
noticing the façade, read the quotation at the top of the building. See you
at the workshop!