Reading Assignment for 8/29.

These pages give an overview of the class and give you a good introduction to why we have designed the class the way we have. Starting with Friday's readings you will be asked to write summaries of some of the readings in MasteringPhysics, but for these, we just encourage you to scan them briefly to get a sense of what the class is about.

Introduction to the class

• Science as making models 
• The disciplines: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Math 
• What Physics can do for Biologists

In addition to the content of the class, the course has a theme of "teaching you how to think scientifically". Understanding how your mind works plays an important role in learning how to think and learn. Sometimes, your mind leads you astray! It's fun and interesting to think about your thinking and learning to know what to watch out for can help you learn more effectively. Here are some pages that introduce you to these ideas.

Thinking about Thinking and Knowing

• The nature of scientific knowledge
• Models of memory
• An evolutionary model of memory