<p>Hey, I am not really a science person and I was wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions to what courses I could take. I used culpa to check out Earth, Moon and Planets by Applegate but the data seems inconclusive. Half the reviews say that its a joke easy class and the others say that its nearly impossible to do well.</p>
<p>"Half the reviews say that its a joke easy class and the others say that its nearly impossible to do well."</p>
<p>unsurprising, it's called "earth, moon and planet" so most people think it's a walk in the park, it also has an easy description, if i'm not mistaken, I don't think it's tough for someone with a science background, but anything is curved, and if a prof finds people getting 95% he/she WILL make the class more difficult. So basically people with substantial science background will find this class a joke compared to the usual core science classes, whereas others with worse science backgrounds will find it very tough. </p>
<p>What polarized reviews tell you is that the prof expects a certain level of scientific knowledge and skill, but will not go much beyond that. This is a characteristic of a broad class, rather than a class like say intermediate microeconomics which starts with simple assumptions and builds on them in each class to give you substantial depth. </p>
<p>bottom line: if you've taken a couple of years of physics in high school, esp with some astronomy experience / are good at and have learned math, this class shouldn't be too tough at all. If you expect it to be as simplistic as frontiers of science, you might be mistaken.</p>
<p>I'd suggest waiting for the spring semester to do the astronomy class taught by David Helfand. He's a laugh, and really interesting. </p>
<p>Other classes: Drugs and Behaviour by Carl Hart, Physics for Poets..umm calc's boring but useful, Mind Brain and Behaviour by Christoph Weidenmeyer.</p>
<p>The Science of Psychology with Lindemann was an easy A for me, and I am decidedly not scientifically inclined.</p>
<p>Newbie perspective- from the course description Frontiers of Science seems kind of fun. It's lectures, and discussions on new scientific discoveries and concepts. More contemporary knowledge than anything else.</p>
<p>yeah but you kind of have to take it if you're in CC. If your teacher's good, you get to use a lot of really useful analytical tools as well.</p>
<p>Both "Mind, Brain, and Behavior" and "Science of Psychology" are pretty easy psych courses while being fairly interesting. I took the former and a friend took the latter (tho I'm an engineer, he's an english major with no love of science)</p>
<p>Also, Calc1 is pretty easy if you have even a halfway decent math background. If you've never taken calc then you should, it can help you understand the world a little better and even in senior year when your engineer friends are taking advanced vibrational analysis or whatnot, they will still talk about integrals and differentials so you will be at least a little more knowledgeable about it :P</p>
<p>"If you've never taken calc then you should, it can help you understand the world a little better "</p>
<p>ease and fun aside, calc one is probably the single most meaningful and useful early math / sci class you'll ever take. It worries me that columbia graduates kids each year who know no calculus. It is a way of thinking rather than simply a mathematical method. Intro stat [and principles of econ] is another class I feel is a crime not to have understood before graduation. If you enjoy learning and understanding concepts, these are far more meaningful than some class about psych or astronomy which one can pick up by reading a book on. </p>
<p>Unfortunately i know a lot of CC students who are just petrified by math and science and want the easiest route no matter what. If this isn't you, take calc or stat; if this is, it shouldn't be, you've made it columbia so you would be smart enough to do well in any of these classes.</p>
<p>i must have missed something here, but doesn't the science requirement say that you HAVE to take one science course excluding the maths, stat, comp sci, etc., IN ADDITION to a quantitative course like calc, stat, etc.?</p>
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ease and fun aside, calc one is probably the single most meaningful and useful early math / sci class you'll ever take. It worries me that columbia graduates kids each year who know no calculus. It is a way of thinking rather than simply a mathematical method. Intro stat [and principles of econ] is another class I feel is a crime not to have understood before graduation.
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<p>Explain why one needs to know calculus to understand the world. I totally disagree with you. I think econ and stat are two very important topics for any citizen to grasp, so we agree there.</p>
<p>"Explain why one needs to know calculus to understand the world"</p>
<p>calculus is not 'needed' to understand the world, neither is stat or principles for that matter, we can all gather our fruit and make babies quite well without them. Calculus is a way of thinking though, most people don't think in terms of rates of change until they study a basic calculus course. For example we all know the demand curve slopes downwards, but it's slope (derivative) defines the price sensitivity of consumers, now many can understand that a 50% drop in price can lead to a 30% drop in demand. but few people think about (for example): demand change with prices going from 110-90 (20% change) vs. from 55-45(20%), same inputs could have widely different outputs. basically few people think about demand-change-with-respect-to-price as a function of price. It places a system around which to understand fundamentally any reaction with inputs and outputs. </p>
<p>Take a simple decision like "should I raise prices by 50 today, or by 10 each week for 5 weeks". There isn't a right answer, you have to gauge the rate of marginal profit change against the rate of decrease in quantity under each scheme. Principles of econ does not teach you this (maybe micro opens your eyes to it a little.) Psychology will give you intuitive reason for what will happen, but you have to use calculus (however basic) to assess results. </p>
<p>The systems of differentiation (breaking a change or process apart into infinitely small parts and looking at how those vary) and integration (summing infinitely small parts) are applicable to every science and social science.</p>
<p>I see what you're saying, and I agree that you need the calculus to understand advanced economics. However, I don't think you need calculus to understand and apply the economics doctrines that well-educated citizens should know (yet many don't). Someone who is smart and has a good algebra background can synthesize the slope concepts you describe. I'm not saying calculus is totally removed from real-world applications, but I think one should be able to understand some of these applications without the need for calculus.</p>
<p>"and I agree that you need the calculus to understand advanced economics"</p>
<p>aha, but this is a simple decision on price changes, and profit change, that anyone who is in any form of business activity will have to make. yes we can all 'feel' what will happen, but this is a system, within it you can examine other similar business making price changes, and decide what is best for you. not saying there isn't a human element, but the system definitely helps.</p>
<p>"but I think one should be able to understand some of these applications without the need for calculus."</p>
<p>but i think one underestimates the absence of quantitative thinking in many of our liberal arts majors who do 'earth, moon and the planets' because they are so turned off by math, science. I'm suggesting these course as a bare minimum that someone with very little exposure to stat, econ, calc should take. there are few by % but many by number.</p>
<p>must... resist... 1000-word rant...</p>
<p>oh, this thread reminds of something: </p>
<p>im a transfer and while ive found 4 of the 5 courses im going to attempt to register in, i cant find any frontiers classes...are new students automatically enrolled?</p>
<p>Yeah, freshmen are automatically registered in either FOS or UW depending on where their last name falls in the alphabet. Same goes for Lit Hum. The rest of your classes you register for manually</p>