GCE Science is Society

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Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company num ber 3644723) and a registered charity (registered charity number 1073334).

Registered address: AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX. Dr Michael Cresswell, Director General. hij Teacher Resource Bank GCE Science in Society Coursework Guidance Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 2 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors.

All rights reserved. klm Unit 2 SCIS2 3 Reading and Writing about Science Critical Account of Scientific Reading Book choice The purpose of the internally assessed work in the Science in Society course is to encourage individual exploration of additional science and scientific issues that are of personal interest and relevance. In doing so, candidates build upon the approach to contexts introduced in Unit 1 SCIS1 AS Exploring Key Scientific Issues.

Candidates are expected to interweave, within the context of their chosen reading, three strands: the issue, the science behind the issue and what a study of the issue tells us about science and society. The overall context for this work is reading popular science. Candidates are encouraged ... more. less.

to discover the pleasure of such reading while developing the necessary skills to reflect and report on their experience. Candidates are free to choose their reading 4 non-fiction or 8hard 9 science fiction 4 but it should be related to some aspect of the overall content of this specification, especially the ideas about How Science Works (Section 3.5) and/or the science explanations (Section 3.6). The reading must provide an opportunity for candidates to show through their accounts that they are able to: " read, analyse and communicate accurately and effectively their understanding of the main scientific content; " critically discuss the style and language used in the text, including its effectiveness for purpose. In guiding candidates through their work in this element of the course much advice about task setting, pacing of the work, supervision and discussion of drafts through to final assessment is common to the write- up of the Study of a topical scientific issue and thus provided elsewhere. Resources that include preparative assignments for both pieces of internally assessed work are available through the associated Nuffield Curriculum Development Centre resources project ( www.scienceinsocietyadvanced.org ). There is good general advice to students on the internally assessed work in 8Chapter 12: Reading and writing about science 9 of the associated textbook ( AS Science in Society , Andrew Hunt Ed., Heinemann, 2008). Detailed advice on assessment and supervision is provided at standardising meetings. What follows concentrates upon the first, and arguably most important, part of the process 4 the choice of reading. It is important to stress the aim of sustaining and developing candidate 9s interest in, and engagement with, science. Discovery of the pleasure of reading popular science writing is an important contribution as long as the choice for the student is a pleasure rather than a chore. It is expected that candidates will choose both their scientific reading material and topical scientific issue in consultation with their teachers. The account and report are part of teaching and learning rather than being solely for assessment purposes, and it is envisaged that teachers will guide and supervise candidates at all stages as work proceeds. If you are introducing this task for the first time, or are under resource restraints (time, money, etc) you may feel that what you want to do is to copy a list and ask students to choose from it so that you can source it through your librarian or as a minimal purchase. If that is your position there are lists here that you can use in that way, but do recognise that there is not a recommended list of reading supplied by AQA or the associated Nuffield Curriculum Centre project. And nor will there be one in the future: an eminently suitable book for one candidate in one centre may not be suitable for another elsewhere 4 for example, the account produced by an 8average 9 candidate on certain reading listed in this booklet might display insufficient scientific understanding stemming from inability to understand the text in the first place. That same 8average 9 candidate would fare much better in grappling with a more accessible, yet still adult, book. You will need to consider carefully with each student individual factors that will affect their ability to access the content and hence provide an explanation, in their own words, of the science rather than just a list of the book 9s content. Factors will include the students 9 ability, their other studies, their personal interest and the Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 3 nature of the science content in relation to the science ideas and explanations in the specification. Some books are more accessible than others 3 not all great scientists are great writers. The specification requires that the reading should consist 8at least 15,000 words (perhaps 40 350 pages of a typical paperback) 9 and indicates that this might be met in a number of ways. While other forms are possible, the vast majority of successful candidates will base their work on (a substantial section from) a book. Your guidance should be towards substantial popular texts 3 the requirements are not met by course textbooks, web pages or films. In setting the task you will need to consider how you are to allow the choice once you have outlined the requirements. One experienced teacher has written: cI think the aim of encouraging reading about science is best met if students have some choice and are led to where that choice is in the real world so that they might in future do it for themselves. I have not bought books ahead of time. I take them to [a well-known chain bookshop], park them in the 8general science 9 section, and ask them to choose (preferably paperback under £15, etc). Recently I 9ve organised an account through the school librarian and then bought them immediately 4 which the students respond well to 4 but previously I noted titles and then ordered through Amazon. In the first year I did similar but in the library (before I 9d got a budget sorted out). Public library not school library. The point is that they should be looking at stuff aimed at the 8general public 9. So if you really do need to buy ahead of time I 9d do similar on your own. Go and see what is out on the table at the bookshop, what is being sold now and pick up a mixture of story/history, current work and 8fun 9. d If you are unable to accompany students to a bookshop, you may want to provide a list of your recommendations. This might be for student choice from the centre library (as a precursor to which you might want to supply your librarian with a buying list), a local library, or a high-street or online bookshop. In preparing such a list you will want to bear in mind the requirements of the specification, and also the experience of previous candidates. You will find it useful to refer to Reports on the Examinations for the predecessor specification, AS Science for Public Understanding, available on the AQA web site. For example: Extracted from Report on the Examination 2004 An increasing range of sources for this work is becoming available with 8popular science 9 a growth area in publishing. This provides for appropriate choice in the circumstances of individual centres and candidates, and for a pleasing variety of reading for the moderators. The majority of better pieces of work seen are reviews of a full-length 8popular science 9 book based on the detailed reading of a few chapters. We saw less science fiction or magazine articles than in previous years and the overall standard is the better for this change. Extracted from Report on the Examination 2003 It bears repetition that it is hard for any but the best candidates to access reasonable marks using science fiction. 8Science fiction 9 is a wide and inclusive genre. Some is readily accessible but the basis of teacher guidance on a choice in this vein should be that a fair proportion of the science is real, ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer for example is not appropriate) and that the student is capable of distinguishing where the real science ends and the fiction begins. The majority of the better pieces of work seen are reviews of a full-length 8popular science 9 book based on the detailed reading of a few chapters. A few centres needed reminding that science course textbooks are not an appropriate choice of reading. Extracted from Report on the Examination 2002 In the Account of Reading a pleasing variety of interesting sources were used. However, too many candidates failed to give accurate and complete reference to the material upon which the work was based as required by the specification. Many candidates produced excellent reports that were a joy to read. Some were hampered by choice of material. Science fiction, especially that variety which contains a lot of fiction and not much Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 4 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm science, provided a relatively poor basis for this piece of work, especially for less able candidates, although the task had clearly been an enjoyable one. Candidates who otherwise gained all the available marks had commonly missed the opportunity to set their reading in a wider context. These extracts are clearly suggesting that your candidates may be better off choosing a book (rather than a series of articles) and non-fiction rather than fiction. But this will not be true for every candidate and you are in the best place to judge the abilities of your students, their interests 4 and indeed your own interests in guiding them through the work. An experienced teacher has written: cIt is undoubtedly true that I have had students successfully write accounts of their reading of science fiction, for example, and of pretty hard-going science books. But not all my students could have done so. In particular I steer my weaker students away from science fiction (they think it 9s going to be easy but it's not). They are not able enough to distinguish the boundary between the science and the fiction which is necessary to gain marks for science explanation. Insistent ones I point to books with titles like Science of Startrek , Science of Discworld , etc. Or they might be attracted by books that are presented more 8imaginatively 9 like Dr Titania . d Bear in mind the abilities and interests of your students. They need to be able to access the reading. Some less able students might be steered toward work written for (younger) teenagers on which they can make appropriate comment on suitability. Do not exclude from consideration a 8hard 9 read that would be stretching and academically exciting to the more able student, but equally do not encourage your less able students to attempt reading that they will not, despite much effort, understand. The following pages suggest ways in which, or provide bases from which, you might prepare a suitable list for your work with your students. You should make it clear in presenting this task to your students that simply choosing a book from any given list does not guarantee high marks. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 5 Royal Institution Salon for Science Library Most librarians will be happy to supply you with a list of appropriate books in their stock. This might be your centre library, a local public library, or a specialist library at a local academic institution. As an example, the following list is of books published since 1999 and held in the Royal Institution 8Salon for Science 9 library created in 2000. At the time of writing, the Royal Institution is moving its library back into a newly refurbished building after a two year closure 4 this list has not yet been updated but is nonetheless a helpful indication of the range and type of reading available. The Royal Institution has been involved in encouraging the public understanding of science for over two hundred years with a membership of both scientists and interested non-scientists. Their public lecture programme, which includes events sponsored by publishers to present new 8popular science 9 books, is a useful resource for teachers of Science in Society. Aleksander, Igor How to Build a Mind Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2000 Bainbridge, David A Visitor Within - The Science of Pregnancy Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000 Barbour, Julian The End of Time: The Next Revolution in our Understanding of the Universe Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1999 Barondes, Samuel H Mood Genes: Hunting for the Origins of Mania and Depression Penguin, 1999 Berry, Adrian The Giant Leap; Mankind Heads for the Stars Headline, 1999 Blakemore, Colin & Iverson, Susan Gender and Society OUP, 2000 Brockman, John The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2000 Brockman, John; Matson, Katinka How Things Are: A Science Tool-Kit for the Mind Phoenix, 1999 Chaikin, Andrew A Man on the Moon Penguin, 1999 Cohen, Jack; Stewart, Ian The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World Penguin, 2000 Courtillot, Vincent Evolutionary Catastrophes: The Science of Mass Extinctions Cambridge University Press, 1999 Damasio, Antonio The Feeling of What Happens: Body, Emotion and the Making of Consciousness William Heinnemann, 1999 Davies, Paul The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life Penguin, 1999 Dawkins, Richard Unweaving the Rainbow Penguin, 1999 Delsemme, Armand Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence Cambridge University Press, 1999 Devlin, Keith The Maths Gene: Why Everybody has it, but most people don 9t use it Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2000 Dover, Gabriel Dear Mr Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2000 Dyson, Freeman Origins of Life Cambridge University Press, 1999 Dyson, George Darwin among the Machines Penguin, 1999 Feynman, Richard P Lectures on Gravitation Penguin, 1999 Feynman, Richard P Lectures on Computation Penguin, 1999 Feynman, Richard P Six easy pieces: The Fundamentals of Physics Explained Penguin, 1999 Feynman, Richard P Six not-so-easy Pieces: Einstein 9s Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time Penguin, 1999 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 6 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Feynman, Richard P The Meaning of it All Penguin, 1999 Frankel, Charles The End of Dinosaurs: Chicxulub Crater and Mass Extinctions Cambridge University Press, 2000 Freeman, Walter, J How Brains Make up their Minds Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1999 Gamow, George Mr Tompkins in Paperback Cambridge University Press, 2000 Gardner, Martin Visitors from Oz: The Wild Adventures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman Penguin, 1999 Glynn, Ian An Anatomy of Thought Phoenix, 2000 Gopnik, Alison; Meltzoff, Andrew; Juhl, Patricia How Babies Think Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1999 Greenfield, Susan The Private Life of the Brain Penguin, 2000 Greenfield, Susan Brain Story: Unlocking our Inner World of Emotions, Memories, Ideas and Desires BBC, 2000 Gribbin, John The Little Book of Science Penguin, 1999 Gribbin, John Almost everyone 9s Guide to Science Phoenix, 1999 Gribbin, John The Birth of Time Penguin, 1999 Gribbin, John The Case of the Missing Neutrinos and other curious phenomena of the Universe Penguin, 2000 Grice, Gordon The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators Penguin, 1999 Hazen, Robert M The Diamond Makers: A Compelling Drama of Scientific Discovery Cambridge University Press, 2000 Hofstadter, Douglas R Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid Penguin, 2000 Jakosky, Bruce The Search for Life on Other Planets Cambridge University Press, 2000 James Lovelock Homage to Gaia OUP, 2000 Kirkwood, Tom Time of Our Lives: Why Ageing is Neither Inevitable Penguin, 1999 Kitchin, CR Journeys to the Ends of the Universe Adam Hilger, 1999 Loewenstein, Werner R The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication and the Foundations of Life Penguin, 1999 Mark Buchanan Ubiquity Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000 Mark Ridley Mendel 9s Demon Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000 McGowan, Christopher Diatoms to Dinosaurs: The Size and Scale of Living Things Penguin, 1999 Narlikar, Jayant V Seven Wonders of the Cosmos Cambridge University Press, 1999 Naughton, John A Brief History of the Future: The Origins of the Internet Phoenix, 1999 Paulos, John Allen Once upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories Penguin, 1999 Penrose, Roger; Shimony, Abner; Cartwright, Nancy; Hawking, Stephen The Large, The Small and the Human Mind Cambridge University Press, 1999 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 7 Pinker, Steven Word and Rules: The Ingredients of Language Phoenix, 1999 Potts, Malcolm; Short, Roger Ever Since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality Cambridge University Press, 2000 Rees, Martin Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe Phoenix, 1999 Reiss, Michael J; Straughan, Roger Improving Nature: The Science and Ethics of Genetic Engineering Cambridge University Press, 2000 Richardson, Ken The Making of Intelligence Phoenix, 1999 Rogers, Lesley Sexing the Brain Phoenix, 2000 Rose, Steven From Brains to Consciousness? Essays of the New Sciences of the Mind Penguin, 1999 Rose, Steven The Chemistry of Life Penguin, 1999 Rose, Steven; Rose Hilary Alas, Poor Darwin: Arguments against Evolutionary Psychology Jonathan Cape, 2000 Rowntree, Derek Statistics without Tears Penguin, 2000 Semir Zeki Inner Vision - An Exploration of Art and the Brain Oxford University Press, 1999 Singer, Peter A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1999 Stewart, Ian Life 9s other Secret: The New Mathematics of the Living World Penguin, 1999 Tania Farrell Yelland All Woman - Life After Breast Cancer Metro Publishing Ltd, 2000 Taquet, Philippe Dinosaur Impressions: Postcards from a Palaeontologist Cambridge University Press, 1999 Vogel, Steven Cats 9 Paws and Catapults Penguin, 1999 Wall, Patrick Pain, the Science of Suffering Phoenix, 2000 Whalley, Lawrence The Ageing Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001 Acknowledgement: thanks to Dr Frank James, Reader in the History of Science and Keeper of Collections at the Royal Institution ( http://www.rigb.org ), for providing this list and permission to use it in GCE Science in Society materials. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 8 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Royal Society Prizes for Science Books The Royal Society coordinates the award of two annual science book prizes ( http://royalsociety.org/bookspage ), one to celebrate books written for the general public and one for books written for children. Ever since the Prizes were originally established in 1988 they have had the same aim - to encourage the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books. They have grown to become one of the UK's most prestigious non-fiction literary prizes. You might assume that the prize winning and shortlisted books will generally be written well enough that they will be accessible to your candidates, but do take care 4 some titles will stretch even your more able students. These books are very likely to be available as paperbacks or in your local library system. Most of the children's books are too 'young' for Science in Society students but they will occasionally be appropriate for particular candidates. Here are the judges 9 comments on their selected long list of twelve books for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books, 2008: J Craig Venter A Life Decoded Penguin Allen Lane An autobiography with a twist where life is put into the context of what is in your genes. This is a book about a man whom you cannot ignore. John Emsley Better Looking, Better Living, Better Loving: How Chemistry can Help You Achieve Life's Goals Wiley-VCH A very practical, informative and interesting read which reveals chemistry as being key to modern life. Steve Jones Coral: A pessimist in paradise Little, Brown This book is an idiosyncratic discussion of how zoology, history and ecology meet. It is beautifully written and draws you into it Gerd Gigerenzer Gut Feelings Penguin-Allen Lane From picking girlfriends to making choices about our health, Gut Feelings explores the role of the unconscious mind in how we make decisions. A book for everyone interested in making better choices. Mick O'Hare How to Fossilise Your Hamster Profile Books A fun book, full of experiments which shows that science can be enjoyed by everyone. Chris Frith Making Up The Mind Wiley - Blackwell A wonderfully clear introduction to the neuroscience of thinking. The author's personality shines through and he is charmingly entertaining. Mark Lynas Six Degrees: Our future on a hotter planet Fourth Estate A doomsday scenario which everyone has to know about. A thought-provoking read which makes the issues of global warming very real and immediate. Steven Pinker The Stuff of Thought Penguin-Allen Lane This book takes a difficult subject and carries you along with it. It introduces us to how language can tell us how the mind works. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 9 Stuart Clark The Sun Kings Princeton University Press A wonderful historical biography. This 19 th century melodrama gets you straight into the science of sun spots. It has everything great characters, knives, guns and illicit relationships. Ian Stewart Why Beauty is Truth Basic Books An elegant and beautifully written book on a key mathematical topic which links through to many different subjects. Lewis Smith Why the Lion Grew Its Mane Papadakis Beautifully presented and easy to read it is a book that would be great to receive as a present. It draws the reader into the world of science. Yes! Profile Books Noah Goldstein, Steve J Martin, & Robert B Cialdini A compelling book about why we do the things we do and what effect the art of persuasion has on us. General prize winners 1996 3 2007 2007 Daniel Gilbert Stumbling on happiness Harper Press 2006 David Bodanis Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World Little, Brown Book Group 2005 Philip Ball Critical Mass: One Thing Leads to Another William Heinemann 2004 Bill Bryson Short History of Nearly Everything Doubleday/Transworld 2003 Chris McManus Right Hand, Left Hand Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2002 Stephen Hawking The Universe in a Nutshell Bantam Press/Transworld Publishers 2001 Robert Kunzig Mapping the Deep 3 The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science Sort of Books 2000 Brian Greene The Elegant Universe Jonathan Cape 1999 Paul Hoffman The Man who Loved Only Numbers Fourth Estate 1998 Jared Diamond Guns, Germs and Steel Jonathan Cape 1997 Alan Walker & Pat Shipman The Wisdom of Bones: In Search of Human Origins Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1996 Arno Karlen Plague 9s Progress Victor Gollancz Shortlisted general books, 2000 3 2008 J Craig Venter A life decoded Penguin Allen Lane, 2008 Steve Jones Coral: A pessimist in paradise Little, Brown, 2008 Gerd Gigerenzer Gut feelings Penguin-Allen Lane, 2008 Mark Lynas Six degrees: Our future on a hotter planet Fourth Estate, 2008 Stuart Clark The sun kings Princeton University Press, 2008 Ian Stewart Why beauty is truth Basic Books, 2008 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 10 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Chris Stringer Homo Britannicus Penguin Allen Lane, 2007 Eric R Kandel In Search of Memory WW Norton & Co, 2007 Henry Nicholls Lonesome George Macmillan, 2007 Adam Wishart One in Three Profile Books, 2007 Robert Henson The Rough Guide to Climate Change Rough Guides, 2007 Jared Diamond Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive Penguin-Allen Lane, 2007 Michio Kaku Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos Penguin, 2006 Nick Lane Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life Oxford University Press, 2006 Arthur I Miller Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes Little, Brown Book Group, 2006 Vivienne Parry The Truth About Hormones - What's Going on when we're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful Atlantic Books, 2006 Richard Dawkins The Ancestor's Tale Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005 Douwe Draaisma Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older Cambridge University Press, 2005 Griffith Edwards Matters of Substance: Drugs - and why everyone's a user Penguin-Allen Lane, 2005 Richard Fortey The Earth: An Intimate History HarperCollins, 2005 Robert Winston The Human Mind Bantam Press/Transworld Publishers, 2005 Francis Spufford Backroom Boys Faber & Faber, 2004 Andrew Brown In the Beginning was the Worm Simon & Schuster, 2004 Nigel Calder Magic Universe Oxford University Press, 2004 Armand Marie Leroi Mutants Penguin: Viking USA, 2004 Matt Ridley Nature via Nurture Fourth Estate, 2004 Mark Buchanan Small World Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003 Gerd Gigerenzer Reckoning with Risk Allen Lane, 2003 Robert P Kirshner The Extravagant Universe Princeton University Press, 2003 Steve Pinker The Blank Slate Allen Lane, 2003 Stephen Webb Where Is Everybody? Copernicus Books, 2003 David Horrobin The Madness of Adam & Eve Bantam Press/Transworld Publishers, 2002 Martin Gorst Aeons: The Search for the Beginning of Time Fourth Estate, 2002 Robert Sapolsky A Primate 9s Memoir Jonathon Cape, 2002 Hannah Holmes The Secret Life of Dust John Wiley and Sons, 2002 Michael White Rivals Secker & Warburg, 2002 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 11 Steve Grand Creation: Life and How to Make it Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001 Lewis Wolpert Malignant Sadness 3 The Anatomy of Depression Faber, 2001 Mark Ridley Mendel 9s Demon 3 Gene Justice and the Complexity of Life Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001 Paul Strathern Mendeleyev 9s Dream 3 The Quest for the Elements Penguin, 2001 George Johnson Strange Beauty 3 Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in Twentieth Century Physics Jonathan Cape, 2001 Thomas Dormandy The White Death Hambledown Press, 2000 John Naughton A Brief History of the Future Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2000 Matt Ridley Genome Fourth Estate, 2000 Robert Weinberg Time, Love, Memory Faber & Faber, 2000 Christopher Wills Children of Prometheus Allen Lane, 2000 Acknowledgement: we are grateful to the Royal Society Education Programme ( http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk ) for providing the list of books, shortlisted and prize winning, for the Royal Society Book Prize. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 12 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Online Bookstore If you are supplying a list for purchase (e.g. by your centre librarian) it is helpful to check prices and availability. A search in an online bookstore will also allow you to sort results by date of publication (current relevance) or price (budget) and often contain a synopsis or set of reviews that can aid your decisions. Category searches work differently on different sites. A search of one major online bookstore using the search term 8books: popular science 9 will, by default, bring up books in this category sorted by current sales popularity and the synopsis included for most books is often sufficient for you to assess their suitability. On another site, it is possible to 8browse 9 in the 8science 9 section where by default the most recently published books aimed at the general public appear first in the listings. But another requires more care as browsing in the 8science section 9 starts with their top selling textbooks 4 that are not appropriate reading for Science in Society 4 to the top of the list. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 13 Science Fiction You may have some candidates who wish to choose fiction, or you might with your particular group of candidates wish to encourage this possibility. If so, the admonition to take care that the science is evident and distinguishable to the candidate is made in the specification by requiring works that can be categorised as 8hard science fiction 9. &as summarised by Allen Steele (in 8Hard again 9 in 8New York Review of Science Fiction 9, June 1992): cHard sf is the form of imaginative literature that uses either established or carefully extrapolated science as its backbone. d& it is possible to write a form of hard sf about almost anything. Hard sf should not, however, wilfully ignore or break down known scientific principles&while a rigorous definition of chard sf d may be impossible, perhaps the most important thing about it is, not that it should include real science in any great detail, but that it should respect the scientific spirit; it should seek to provide natural rather than supernatural or transcendental explanations for the events and phenomena it describes John Clute & Peter Nicholls, The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction , Orbit 1999 An experienced teacher has found the following web-site a useful source: HardSF: Looking for the science in fiction ( http://hardsf.org ) It includes some useful booklists and discussion of fiction based around various scientific topics. A science examiner with a particular interest in science fiction offers these comments: cA seemingly straightforward request for suggested reading to someone as well acquainted with science fiction as myself is, in fact, quite difficult to respond to. Pretty well all science fiction of any literary worth uses one, or more, science fiction scenarios to provide the context within which to explore aspects of inter-personal relationships and social/economic/political structures. So although faster-than-light travel or communication, for example, might be used to give the chosen context some plausibility, such physical science 8fictions 9 are incidentally rather than focally relevant to the main thrust of the fictional work. Similarly, details of the species native to other planets and of the ecosystems they comprise, or of the ecosystem set up within a spacecraft on a long inter-stellar journey, are not usually important in their own right but rather to provide verisimilitude in the backdrop to what a novel or short story is primarily concerned with exploring. Consequently, any worthwhile evaluation of a piece of science fiction would be mainly concerned with the following two (not entirely independent) features of the work: its literary qualities and the quality of the insight it provides into the predicament of sapient beings. Insofar as the latter quality relates to science at all it relates to the 8soft 9 sciences of psychology, sociology etc. which may be out with the experience of the great majority of candidates or their teachers. The obvious implication is that allowing students to review a science fiction text is not necessarily such an excellent idea, rich in possibilities, as it might at first appear to be. Nor is it surprising that students often select inappropriate science fiction texts. It would, however, be hasty to conclude that the possibility of using science fiction be altogether avoided. There are a few aspects of science fiction that provide enough purchase for legitimate assessment: " some science fiction works describe the ecosystems of other planets and/or of a closed biosphere (e.g. in a spacecraft or in a lunar/Martian base) not just as incidental background but in a more developed way as something to be savoured by readers (much as in a mainstream novel the atmosphere of a particular city or country might be portrayed/evoked); [e.g. the whole of Kim Stanley Robinson 9s Mars trilogy and, so far as a spacecraft is concerned, the early part of Red Mars ] Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 14 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm " some science fiction works explore the implications of bio-engineering (e.g. the cloning of, or the selective/engineered breeding of, or the use of new therapies with, human beings) and hence address the unforeseen consequences and the ethical implications of scientific applications; [e.g. Daniel Keyes 9 Flowers for Algernon or Nancy Kress 9 Beggars in Spain and its sequels.] " some science fiction works, whatever else they might do, also provide insight into the activity of science and the goings-on within the scientific community; " a very few science fiction works explore, more than incidentally, some aspect of physical science. Those that do are usually in short story format. [Examples include Robert Forward 9s novel Dragon 9s Egg that envisages sentient life-forms on a hyper- dense neutron star and a short story called The Xi Effect in which the world progressively shrinks to below the size of increasingly shorter wavelengths of radiation.] " there are interesting works that explore the question of how, via remote signals and/or face-to- 8face 9 contact, communication with alien sapiens is portrayed. [There is an excellent appraisal of this in Evolving the Alien by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen.] d Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 15 Drama and poetry Certain students may find particular interest in more unusual types of reading. For example, students whose other courses or interests are in language or the performing arts might be interested in plays or poetry. There are other students for whom (explanatory) dialogue might be more readily accessible. Like science fiction the problem can be finding reading with sufficient clearly scientific content. Care also needs to be taken that what is reviewed for the actual account of reading is just that 4 reading 4 not a live performance or DVD. The following have been suggested by one centre that has taken this approach: Drama Djerassi, Carl An Immaculate Misconception ICP Djerassi, Carl/Hoffman, Roald Oxygen Wiley Frayn, Michael Copenhagen Methuen Poliakoff, Stephen Blinded by the Sun Methuen Whittell, Crispin Darwin in Malibu Methuen Djerassi, Carl/Pinner, David Newton 9s Darkness: Two Dramatic Views SciPub Poetry Maurice Riordan & Jocelyn Bell Burnell (Eds) Dark Matter: Poems of Space Gulbenkian Maurice Riordan & Jon Turney (Eds) A Quark for Mister Mark: 101 Poems About Science Faber John Burnside & Maurice Riordan (Eds) Wild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" Gulbenkian Lavinia Greenlaw (Ed) Signs and Humours: The Poetry of Medicine Gulbenkian Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 16 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Essays/selections Some teachers have found it useful to have a group of students reading the same book so that more depth can be reached in class discussion. If this is done it is essential that a process is set up from the start to ensure that the work presented in the final account is the work of the individual candidate (e.g. teacher notes of class discussion are taken and referred to on the Centre Declaration Sheet and Candidate Record Form). One method that has been used in some centres is to have students review different chapters or sections of a book. They have different tasks of explanation but can enhance through class discussion their understanding of its context in the whole work. The following have been suggested as suitable for use in this way: Bragg, Melvyn On Giants 9 Shoulders Hodder & Stoughton Bryson, Bill A Short History of Nearly Everything Doubleday Collins, Harry Pinch, Trevor The Golem Canto Dawkins, Richard A Devil 9s Chaplain Weidenfeld & Nicolson Richard Dawkins The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing OUP Judson, Olivia Dr Tatania 9s Sex Advice to All Creation Metropolitan Lomborg, Bjørn The Skeptical Environmentalist CUP Ridley, Matt Genome 4th Estate Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 17 Series Some centres have sought to limit their student choice to 8similar 9 books or to a particular series that their department keeps as a 'Science in Society library'. Some advantages to this approach might lie in the development of ideas about overall audience based on class discussion of the series. It is also possible to obtain additional discounts from some suppliers/publishers by purchasing a series. One series that contained a number of books successfully used by students in previous years was originally published under the Science Master imprint from Weidenfeld & Nicolson 8Science Masters is a new international series in which leading scientists describe the current state of knowledge in their subject, and speculate about future developments. These short, readable books are aimed at the educated but non-specialist reader; no prior knowledge of science or mathematics is required. 9 [Standard jacket statement] PW Atkins The Periodic Kingdom Paul Davies The Last Three Minutes Ian Stewart Nature 9s Numbers Richard Leakey The Origin Of Humankind John D Barrow The Origin Of The Universe Richard Dawkins River Out Of Eden Daniel C Dennett Kinds Of Minds William H Calvin How Brains Think Stephen H Schneider Laboratory Earth: The Planetary Gamble We Can 9t Afford To Lose Susan A Greenfield The Human Brain: A Guided Tour Jared Diamond Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution Of Human Sexuality Robert A Weinberg One Renegade Cell: The Origins Of Cancer George C Williams The Pony Fish 9s Glow: And Other Clues To Plan And Purpose In Nature Daniel Hillis The Pattern On The Stone Stephen J Gould Evolution & The History Of Life Many of these are in libraries or now available as Phoenix paperbacks 4 part of the extensive science lists of Orion group: www.orionbooks.co.uk (navigate to Non-Fiction, Science). An excellent list has been created in the last few years by Macmillan Science http://www.macmillanscience.com/ Timothy Clack Ancestral Roots 0230201822 Gary Lewis The Making of Champions 0230210163 Mark Honigsbaum Living with Enza 0230217745 Michael Hanlon Eternity 0230219314 AJ Meadows Science and Controversy 0230220207 Chris Turney Ice, Mud and Blood 0230553826 Neil Hook and Mark L Brake Different Engines 0230019803 Guy Brown The Living End 0230517579 Jeff Gomez Print Is Dead 0230527167 Brian Clegg Light Years 0230527256 Michael Hanlon Ten Questions Science Can 9t Answer (Yet) 0230517587 Chris Turney Bones Rocks and Stars 1403985995 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 18 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Albert Einstein and Max Born Born Einstein Letters 1916-1955 1403944962 Joel N Shurkin Broken Genius 1403988153 Dave Reay Climate Change Begins at Home 0230007546 Chris Nunn De La Mettrie's Ghost 1403994951 Henry Nicholls Lonesome George 1403945764 Mary Stopes-Roe Mathematics With Love 1403944989 Mark Haw Middle World: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life 1403986037 Jonathan Balcombe Pleasurable Kingdom 1403986010 Mike Stebbins Sex, Drugs and DNA 0230521126 Charles S Cockell Space On Earth: Saving Our World by Seeking Others 023000752X Michael Hanlon The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 0230008909 Toby Murcott The Whole Story: Alternative Medicine On Trial 0230007538 Andrew Meharg Venomous Earth How Arsenic Caused The World's Worst Mass Poisoning 1403944997 Thomas Hèusler Viruses Vs Superbugs A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? 1403987645 Other series that you might consider (from within which you would need to select the appropriate 8science 9 publications) include: Canto (paperback) series from Cambridge University Press 8for Beginners 9 series from Pantheon books 4th Estate ( www.4thestate.co.uk ) Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 19 A personal library One teacher and examiner has built up a personal 8Science in Society Library 9 over the last few years. This contains books that seemed of particular interest or suitable for certain students: Richard Dawkins A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays George Weidenfeld & Nicholson 0297829734 Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything Doubleday 0385408188 Steve Jones Almost Like a Whale Doubleday 0385409850 Carl Djerassi An Immaculate Misconception Imperial College Press 1860942482 Al Gore An Inconvenient Truth Rodale Books 0747589062 Katrina S Firlik Another Day in the Frontal Lobe Phoenix 9780753821527 Ben Goldacre Bad Science Fourth Estate 9780007240197 Stephen Poliakoff Blinded by the Sun and Sweet Panic A&C Black 0413707008 Chris Turney Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened Macmillan 1403985995 Adrian Desmond Charles Darwin Oxford University Press 0199213542 Dave Reay Climate Change Begins at Home Macmillan 1403945780 Robert Crawford Contemporary Poetry and Contemporary Science Oxford University Press 0199258120 Michael Frayn Copenhagen A&C Black 0413724905 Steve Jones Coral: a pessimist in paradise Little, Brown 9780316729383 Crispin Whittell Darwin in Malibu A&C Black 0413773647 Georgina Ferry Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life Granta Books 1862071675 Alex Boesie Elephants on acid and other bizarre experiments Boxtree 9780752226743 Arthur I Miller Empire of the Stars , Little, Brown 0316725552 Hugh Aldersey- Williams Findings: Hidden Stories in First-Hand Accounts of Scientific Discovery Lulox 0954898001 Dava Sobel Galileo's Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith, And Love Fourth Estate 1857028619 Peter Atkins Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science Oxford University Press 0198609418 Matt Ridley Genome: The Autobiography of Species in 23 Chapters Fourth Estate 185702835X Jason Cowley (Ed) Granta 102: The new nature writing Granta Books 9781905881024 Francis Wheen How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World Harper Perennial 0007140975 Michael Jonathan Reiss Improving Nature?: The Science and Ethics of Genetic Engineering Cambridge University Press 0521637546 Eric R Kandel In Search of Memory W. W. Norton 0393329372 Lisa Jardine Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution Little, Brown 0316647527 John Brockman Intelligent Thought: Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement Vintage 0307277224 James Gleick Isaac Newton Fourth Estate 0007163177 Lewis Dartnell Life in the Universe Oneworld Publications 9781851685059 Henry Nicholls Lonesome George Macmillan 1403945764 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 20 Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. klm Antonio Damasio Looking for Spinoza Random House 0434007870 Simon Garfield Mauve Faber and Faber 0571209173 Carl Djerassi Menachem's Seed: A Novel University of Georgia Press 0820319252 Mark Haw Middle World: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life Macmillan 1403986037 Matt Ridley Nature Via Nurture Fourth Estate 1841157457 Carl Djerassi Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views Imperial College Press 186094390X Carl Djerassi No: A Novel University of Georgia Press 0820320323 Melvyn Bragg On Giant 9s Shoulders Hodder & Stoughton 0340712597 Martin Rees Our Final Century Heinemann 0434008095 Carl Djerassi Oxygen Wiley-VCH 3527304134 Keith Ward Pascal's Fire: Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding Oneworld 1851684468 Jackie Leach Sculley Playing in the Presence: Genetics, Ethics and Spirituality Quaker Books 085245337X Nick Lane Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life Oxford University Press 0192804812 Arthur Raistrick Quakers in Science and Industry William Sessions Limited 1850721068 Gerd Gigerenzer Reckoning with Risk: Learning to Live with Uncertainty Allen Lane 0713995122 Chris McManus Right Hand, Left Hand Weidenfeld & Nicolson 0297645978 Brenda Maddox Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA Harper Collins 0002571498 Terry Pratchett Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch Ebury Press 0091898242 Sue Hubbell Shrinking the Cat: Genetic Engineering Before We Knew About Genes Mariner Books 0618257489 Rachel Carson Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics) Penguin Classics 0141184949 Richard P Feynman Six Easy Pieces Penguin 0140276661 Mary Roach Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife W. W. Norton 0393329127 Daniel Gilbert Stumbling on Happiness Harper Perennial 0007183135 Rose Shapiro Suckers: How alternative medicine makes fools of us all Harvill Secker 9781846550287 Richard Dawkins The Ancestor's Tale Phoenix 0753819961 Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Black Swan Penguin 9780141034591 Georgina Ferry & John Sulston The Common Thread Bantam Press 0593048016 James Muirden The Cosmic Verses: A Rhyming History of the Universe Michael O 9Mara Books 1843172186 Lisa Jardine The Curious Life of Robert Hooke HarperCollins 0007151756 Harry M Collins The Golem: What You Should Know about Science Cambridge University Press 0521645506 Richard Hamblyn The Invention of Clouds Picador 0330391941 David E Morse The Iron Bridge Harcourt 0151002592 Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Science in Society / Coursework Guidance Document / Version 1.0 klm Copyright © 2009 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. 21 Steve Jones The Language of the Genes Flamingo 0006546765 Simon Winchester The Map That Changed the World Penguin 0140280391 Dick Taverne The March of Unreason Oxford University Press 0199205620 Thomas P Slaughter The Natures of John and William Bartram Knopf 0679430458 Richard Dawkins The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing Oxford University Press 9780199216802 Carl Djerassi The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse Basic Books 0465057586 Tim R Birkhead The Red Canary Weidenfeld & Nicolson 0297829963 L Wolpert The Unnatural Nature of Science Faber and Faber 0571164900 Elizabeth Pisani The Wisdom of Whores Granta 9781847080004 Carl Djerassi This Man's Pill Oxford University Press 0198508727 Susan Greenfield Tomorrow's People: How 21 st Century Technology is Changing the Way We Think and Feel Allen Lane 0713996315 Len Fisher Weighing the Soul Phoenix 0753819910

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