[a] Read the essay “Science as Falsification” by Karl Popper. Then write a 30-50 word summary of what you feel are the main ideas of this essay. Based on your reading, do you agree with Karl Popper’s definition of science? (The essay is at staff.washington.edu/lynnhank/Popper-l.pdf or eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/liu10/files/2010/08/Kpopper_Falsification.pdf) Why or why not?
[b] Watch the Crash Course Philosophy video #8 at youtube.com/watch?v=-X8Xfl0RITQ (Karl Popper, Science, and Pseudoscience). Answer in roughly 50 words this question: how does this video’s presentation of Karl Popper’s idea of science as falsifiability connect with the concepts expressed in Lecture 02 about what science is? If it doesn’t, explain why not.
[c] Referring to the video in Part [b] above, what are one or two big ideas expressed between 6:00 and 8:00 of Crash Course Philosophy #8 that have made an impression on you? Explain why they made an impression on you personally.
[d] Go to youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIjnepQR5pV-3iTxs34-GIZsSRwHQso5r [Science Forward Class Videos]. Look through it; choose two videos in the playlist to watch except for the first one. Watch those videos; write down their title, why you chose the video, one person that spoke about their scientific work on the video, and one idea that is particularly interesting to you. Your answer for each video should be roughly 50 words in length.
[e] This is a mathematical exercise. Using the relationship “force equals mass times acceleration,” write an answer to the following question: if an object with mass X grams is being accelerated at Z centimeters per second squared, then how much force is being exerted on the object? Show your calculations on the page.
