Cultures in the Production of Knowledge in Science

Code:

CPCC01

Acronym:

CPCC01

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Life sciences

Instance: 2018/2019 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Molecular Biology
Course/CS Responsible:	Cultures in the Production of Knowledge in Science

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
CPCC	7	Oficial plan since 2018	1	-	3	28	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

– To identify and understand ways in which contemporary science has developed, in its specializations, from past advances;
– To understand the relevance of some elements, conceptual and material (instruments, for instance), in the context of different areas of scientific knowledge;
– To explore examples that motivate different interpretations and bring about distinct narratives in diverse scientific contexts;
– To recognize common dynamical and methodological aspects of science beyond disciplinary boundaries.

Learning outcomes and competences

– Increased skills for a creative dialogue between areas of scientific expertise;
– Increased ability to locate a given scientific knowledge in the wider field of science and scientific culture;
– Ability to identify instrumental aspects of a scientific area and translate them into methodological strategies in other scientific areas;
– More integrated and in-depth knowledge of aspects of the dynamics of science and its history;
– Widened repertoire of ideas that supports questioning in science.

Working method

Presencial

Program

The training unit explores dynamic aspects of knowledge production in science out of cross-disciplinary narratives that different concepts and material objects (instruments, for instance) motivate. The selected elements, which structure the course unit, having a specialized context are not restricted to it; they are readable in distinct fields of science and, particularly, in physics and in the life sciences and biomedicine. In-class analyses will ponder:

system and universe; scales; energy; clocks; space-time; microscopes/particle accelerators; telescopes/"time machines"; information; probes; reactors; networks.

Each of these elements will be the motto for an analysis from the mentioned scientific areas –open to contributions bringing perspectives from other areas – having in mind that the confrontation of practices, contemporary or past, in different fields may be clarifying. The discussions will attempt to reflect on aspects of the production of scientific knowledge, in a broad sense, including the relationship between theory and experimentation, the role of the development of new instruments and the creation of research infrastructures, the relationship between basic and applied research, aspects of regulation, patterns of scientific collaboration, or the influence of socio-historical contexts.

Mandatory literature

Bertolami O. & Couto. H, (coords.); Do Big Bang ao Homem, Edições UP, 2016
Creager, A. N. H.; Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine, University of Chicago Press, 2013
de Chadarevian, S.; Designs for Life: Molecular Biology after World War II, Cambridge University Press, 2002
Keating, P. & Cambrosio, A.; Biomedical Platforms. Realigning the Normal and the Pathological in Late-Twentieth-Century Medicine, MIT Press, 2003
Keller, E. F.; The Century of the Gene, Harvard University Press, 2000
Leonelli, S.; Data-Centric Biology: A Philosophical Study, University of Chicago Press, 2016
Morange, M.; A History of Molecular Biology, Harvard University Press, 1998
Pradeu, T.; The Limits of the Self: Immunology and Biological Identity, Oxford University Press, 2012
Rader, K. A.; Making Mice: Standardizing Animals for American Biomedical Research, 1900-1955, Princeton University Press, 2004
Rasmussen, N.; Picture Control: The Electron Microscope and the Transformation of Biology in America, 1940-1960, Stanford University Press, 1997
Rheinberger, H.-J.; Toward a History of Epistemic Things: Synthesizing Proteins in the Test Tube, Stanford University Press, 1997
Schrödinger, E.; What Is Life? (with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches), Cambridge University Press, 2004
Tauber, A. I.; Immunity: The Evolution of an Idea, Oxford University Press, 2017
Tauber, A. I.; The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor?, Cambridge University Press, 1994
Weinberg, S.; To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science, Harper Collins, 2015

Comments from the literature

The references listed are indicative of aspects explored in the training unit and are not considered mandatory reading.

Teaching methods and learning activities

The theoretical/practical classes include presentations of the topics which are the starting points to the discussions the students are encouraged to take part. These presentations and discussions are illustrative of possible approaches to the two individual assignments to be carried out within the training unit (see below).

Designed to be an exploratory activity for the students, the course is largely based on the elaboration of assignments; the tutorial sessions are intended to follow up on these tasks.

The online component of the training unit (in the Moodle U.Porto platform) will provide sharing of content and thoughts within the course and will be a privileged space of communication and feedback towards the completion of the assignments

Individual Assignments

– Assignment 1: Brief analysis of a given concept or instrument in the context of different areas explored within the training unit, its oral presentation and discussion (in class).

– Assignment 2: Development of a more elaborate project around a concept or material object and its existence in different areas explored in the unit of formation (upon proposal of each student), focusing on some aspect of the dynamics of production of scientific knowledge, with elaboration of an original text in the format of a brief "publishable" article in an online platform intended to be illustrative of bridges between areas of scientific specialization.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	20,00
Participação presencial	20,00
Trabalho escrito	60,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	33,00
Frequência das aulas	28,00
Trabalho de investigação	10,00
Trabalho escrito	10,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

As regulations.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final grade will be calculated as follows:

P × 0,20 + A1 × 0,20 + A2 × 0,60,

where P stands for the grade regarding the participation in classes, A1 and A2 respectively stand for the grades in Assignment 1 (oral presentation) and Assignment 2 (written essay).