科學英文

Course Description This course provides students with an opportunity to practice and improve their English language skills by learning about science. Each week, students will read about a particular issue regarding science, raise and answer questions about it, and discuss it with their classmates and the instructor. The course is divided into two parts. In the first part of the course, the instructor will choose the readings, ask and answer questions about the readings, and lead the class discussions. In the second part of the course, the students will do all of these things. More specifically, each week, one group of students will work closely with the instructor to choose a reading, prepare questions about the reading for the other students to answer, answer students’ questions, and lead the class discussion. Course Aims This course aims to enhance students’ English reading abilities by requiring them to read challenging texts each week; English speaking and listening abilities by requiring them to engage in class discussions; and English writing abilities by requiring them to complete weekly reading comprehension exercises, come up with one discussion question per week, and take the midterm and final exams. Moreover, this course aims to enhance these English abilities with respect to the use of English in science in particular and in academic settings more generally.

Methods of Instruction Weekly reading comprehension exercises Class discussions based on students’ discussion questions and the answers to the weekly reading comprehension exercises Policy on the Use of Smart Devices in Class You are not permitted to use smart devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, and tablets) during class time. The main goal of this course is to improve your English skills, and our class meetings will give you two hours per week during which you will practice using those skills without the help of smart devices. There are many ways in which using smart devices can help you to improve your English skills, and you are welcome to use any of the remaining 166 hours per week to improve your English skills with the help of smart devices. If I see you using a smart device in class, I will give you a warning. If I see you using a smart device again, you will lose your attendance and participation credit for that class meeting. Policy on the Use of Generative AI Generative AI (for example, ChatGPT) is an important tool; but if you use it in the context of this course, you need to use it in an appropriate way. In general, the appropriate way to use generative AI for the purposes of this course is to use it outside of class to improve your English skills. Class meetings and exams: You are not permitted to use generative AI during class meetings and exams. Please see the Policy on the Use of Smart Devices in Class. Outside of class: If you use generative AI in the course of completing an assignment outside of class, your assignment must include a brief statement that describes how you used generative AI and how that use of generative AI helped you to improve your English skills. If, based on this brief statement, I conclude that you have used generative AI in an inappropriate way, I will give you a warning. If you use generative AI in the same way on a subsequent assignment, you will receive a zero for that assignment. If your assignment does not include a brief statement regarding how you used generative AI, and I suspect that you used generative AI in the course of completing that assignment, I will request some evidence that you have completed the assignment without the use of generative AI. This evidence may involve asking you to provide verbal or written answers to various questions about the assignment without the use of a smart device. If, in answering these questions, you are unable to reproduce, to a sufficient degree, what you submitted for the assignment, you will receive a zero for that assignment. If I suspect that you used generative AI in a way that goes beyond your brief statement regarding how you used it, I will request some evidence that you used generative AI in the way that you stated. (For example, if you state that you only used generative AI to check your English grammar, but you also used generative AI to generate some of the content of your assignment, that use of generative AI would go beyond your brief statement.) In such cases, the evidence I request may involve asking you to demonstrate how you used generative AI to help you complete the assignment. If you are unable to reproduce, to a sufficient degree, what you submitted for the assignment by using generative AI in the way that you described in your brief statement, you will receive a zero for that assignment. Policy on Plagiarism When you take words or ideas that are not your own, and you present those words and ideas as your own, you commit plagiarism. Words or ideas that are not your own include words or ideas spoken or written by another person and also words or ideas generated by AI. If I discover that you plagiarized on an assignment, you will receive a zero for that assignment. If you have any questions regarding what counts as plagiarism, please ask me before you submit your assignments.

Attendance and participation: 15% Each week, students will work in groups to complete the reading comprehension exercises based on that week’s readings. This component of the grade is graded pass-fail. In order to receive full credit each week, students must attend the class meeting for the entire two hours and submit the reading comprehension exercises at the end of the class meeting. Otherwise, no credit will be given. Students who are more than 10 minutes late to class, or who leave class before the end of class, will be counted as absent, and will not receive their attendance and participation credit for that week. In order to receive an excused absence, students must submit their request for leave via NYCU’s Student Leave System (學生請假系統) and have their request approved. Students who have an excused absence must submit the reading comprehension exercises by the beginning of the next class meeting, in which case they will receive full credit for the class meeting for which they were absent. No credit will be given for students with excused absences who do not submit the reading comprehension exercises by the deadline. No credit will be given for students with unexcused absences. Students who are absent for more than six course meetings (whether excused or unexcused) will receive a failing grade for the course. Weekly discussion questions: 10% Each week, students are responsible for coming up with one discussion question based on the reading, which they must submit on Google Classroom before that week’s meeting. These questions may concern an aspect of the reading that they found interesting, confusing, or problematic in some way. These questions are graded pass-fail—students who submit their discussion question before class will receive full credit; otherwise, no credit will be given. Lead one class meeting: 25% Students will work in small groups to lead the class for one meeting during the second part of the course. More specifically, each group will work closely with the instructor to choose a short article, published in a reputable source, about some recent issue in science (e.g., a discovery, a breakthrough, or a controversy), prepare the weekly reading comprehension exercise, lead the class discussion, and answer the weekly discussion questions. The instructor will be a member of each small group, and will work closely with the students so that they can achieve these goals. Midterm and final exams: 50% (25% each) The midterm exam will cover all of the readings from the first part of the course, and the final exam will cover all of the readings from the second part of the course.

See the course schedule for information regarding the weekly readings.

地點

知行樓前棟311

時間

By appointment.

聯絡方式

jhricko@nycu.edu.tw