COURSE UNIT TITLE

: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EARTH SCIENCE

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
MTS 3039 HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EARTH SCIENCE ELECTIVE 2 0 0 3

Offered By

Faculty of Engineering

Level of Course Unit

First Cycle Programmes (Bachelor's Degree)

Course Coordinator

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ÖKMEN SÜMER

Offered to

Faculty of Engineering
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Mining Engineering
Geophysical Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Geological Engineering

Course Objective

To enable engineering students to understand the logic and philosophy of Earth Science by having knowledge in the framework of it. To gain different perspectives by developing their intellectual levels, transferring their engineering skills within the framework of the historical development processes of science.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   Beginning of scientific thought and understanding the importance of earth sciences at this point.
2   To be able to comprehend the logic and philosophy of scientific thinking.
3   To be able to establish chronological development of the history of Earth Science, to approach any scientific subject with the same perspective.
4   To be able to develop new ideas by comprehending scientific discussions in the historical development stages of science, especially earth science, by synthesizing current or future discussions.
5   Besides the engineering skills they gained, for increasing the power of solving engineering problems defining and using basic concepts, questions and problems in different disciplines such as the philosophy of Earth Sciences.
6   Expressing yourself and using communication skills effectively.
7   To be able to increase the analytical thinking capacity by questioning the thoughts of themselves and others in the light of teamwork output, and using for riveting the new knowledge acquired in the course.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 General introduction of the course and, given the course materials and presentation related to the main and auxiliary references/resources to be used.
2 Especially explanation of the ways of access to old publications and books, conveying the importance of original sources, view of Earth Science studies within the framework of scientific ethics.
3 Earth Science observations in the prehistoric period.
4 Earth Sciences in the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Arabical periods.
5 Earth Sciences in the modern period of Renaissance and beyond.
6 Clarification by examples of recent History of Earth Science studies of the Worldwide and Turkey.
7 Mid-Term exam
8 Illumination and narratives on main subjects; Separating students for teamwork and distributing relevant History of Earth Science topics to groups. After this week, the groups will start to present their presentations week by week, based on the topics they receive.
9 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation given in the scientific studies that started in Anatolia.
10 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation on Earth Sciences studies in India and China.
11 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation on Earth Sciences studies at Islamic geography.
12 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation related to Earth Sciences studies on developing under the influence of Renaissance period in Europe.
13 Presentation of teamwork: Subject: Attending and discussing presentation focusing on uprising of Earth Sciences studies in the last 200 years.
14 All topics covered in the course are summarized to students in the light of feedback in their teamwork presentations. With the implications on the chronological development of Earth Sciences, students are enabled to reflect on processes in different disciplines and their awareness in the level of analytical thinking is increased.
15 Final exam

Recomended or Required Reading

Jobert, A. C. G. (1846). The Philosophy of Geology. Simpkin, Marshall, and Company: London, 184 p.

Cailleux, A. (1961). Jeoloji Tarihi. Türkçeye çeviri Salih Yüksel, basım yılı 1995, Iletişim Yayınları: Istanbul, 127 s.

Gohau, G. (1990). A History of Geology. Rugters University Press: London, 276 p.

Hackett, J. (2012). Geological History of Earth. University Publications. Delhi: India, 144 p.

Hagner, A.F. (1995). Yerbilimlerinin Felsefi Yönleri. Jeoloji Mühendisliği, 46, 64-69.

Kleinhans, M. G., Buskes, C. J., & de Regt, H. W. (2010). Philosophy of earth science. In: Philosophies of the Sciences: A Guide, F.Allhoff (eds.), Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, pp 213-236.

O'Hara D.K. (2018). A Brief History of Geology. Cambridge University Press: UK, 262 p.

Pişkin, Ö. (2000). Jeolojinin Tarihçe ve Evrimine Bakış. Dokuz Eylül Yayınları: Izmir, 146 s.

von Zittel, K. A. (1901). History of Geology and Palaeontology to the End of the Nineteenth Century. Translated by Ogilvie-Gordon M.M., Walter Scott: London, 562 p.

Episodes, SCI Journal, Online ISSN: 2586-1298, IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences), http://www.episodes.org/main.html

Other course materials: Seven presentations prepared for the course (the first 6 weeks and for the last week). History of Earth Sciences works in Turkey and worldwide and related current scientific publications will be produced in future.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

1. Lesson / Presentation
2. Teamwork Homework / Assignments will be submitted as a presentation and will be presented by the group in the related course
3. Document and resource open assessment exam

The main framework of the History and Philosophy of Earth Science is conveyed through presentations within the learning outcomes. The main topics of the lecture are divided chronologically, then these topics are distributed to students for teamwork and the student teams are transferred them as presentations every week.

General knowledge of the student and the level of contribution received from the course will be measured by document and resource open assessment exam.

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 MTE MIDTERM EXAM
2 ASG ASSIGNMENT
3 FIN FINAL EXAM
4 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE MTE * 0.25 + ASG * 0.25 + FIN * 0.50
5 RST RESIT
6 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE * 0.25 + ASG * 0.25 + RST * 0.50


*** Resit Exam is Not Administered in Institutions Where Resit is not Applicable.

Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

With the feedback received from the teamwork presentation, an assignment score is determined by both among the students themselves (50%) and the course coordinator (50%). The team presentations will be delivered at the end of the related course.

Mid-Term and Final / Makeup exams are evaluated by using gap-filling (%10), true/false (%10), pairing (%10), multiple-choice questions (% 20), with open-ended problem solving questions (% 50) methods.

Language of Instruction

Turkish

Course Policies and Rules

Participating in teamwork is essential.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ökmen Sümer; okmen.sumer@deu.edu.tr / 0 232 301 73 53

Office Hours

It will be announced after the lesson plan of the related semester is completed.

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 13 2 26
Preparations before/after weekly lectures 12 2 24
Preparation for midterm exam 1 5 5
Preparation for final exam 1 10 10
Preparing presentations 1 6 6
Midterm 1 2 2
Final 1 2 2
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 75

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12PO.13PO.14PO.15
LO.1
LO.2
LO.3
LO.422
LO.5222
LO.64
LO.722