Individual

Weather Forecasting

 

The purpose of this assignment is to consolidate knowledge of the weather from class.By making observations and committing to a prediction, it should help you see how weather systems evolve over time. It will also give you a first pass at video making, which will help with the final projects. We ask that you refrain from looking up weather conditions and predictions for the  period when you are making observations and predictions. Often local observations will be more accurate than the ones found on website.

... Read more about Weather Forecasting

Thalidomide: The Pros and Cons

 

This case study, contributed by the Cornell Center for Teaching Excellence, is intended to show that two enantiomers can have different effects on the body, and how the same drug can be used to treat different diseases or symptoms.  It is also intended to help students begin to understand the process of FDA approval for drugs.  This problem could be used in an organic chemistry class or in a class for non-science majors.

... Read more about Thalidomide: The Pros and Cons

Our Habitable World

 

Created by Khoa Nguyen, Michal Brylinski, Benjamin Maas, Kristy Stensaas, Suniti Karunatillake, Achim Herrmann, and Wolfgang Kramer, this teachable unit aims to implicitly enable scientific modeling skills among the students. With developing a conceptual model from a set of observations as the underlying goal, variations in atmospheric oxygen content provides context.

... Read more about Our Habitable World

Sounding China

 

This was a semester long project. Throughout the semester, graduate students (many of whom had little previous exposure to the course material) studied the history of Chinese music theory, the Jesuit missionaries who transmitted it back to western Europe, and the reception of Chinese culture there in the 18th century. 

... Read more about Sounding China

Bring a Goddess to a Party

 

Students were expected to have researched one goddess from the ancient Near East as described in several primary and secondary sources. The description of the activity on the syllabus is as follows: Choose a female deity or demon from the ancient Near East that you find captivating. Now imagine you have just invited her to a party at Smith College. Describe what she looks like and what she will wear to the party. How will you introduce her to your friends? Tell them where she is from, what her interest are, and explain her special talents, as well as any personality traits that might make for awkward social interactions.

... Read more about Bring a Goddess to a Party

Pages