Helps students recognize, evaluate, and use forms of quantitative argument. Using real data in a Macintosh computer laboratory, students observe and summarize relationships, formulate and test hypotheses, and study connections among hypotheses, formal models, predictions, and actual results.
Laboratory reports on each case study culminate in a paper.
This course is offered every semester , and there are no prerequisites . It is divided roughly into three parts. For 1996-97 the three case studies are the following. The major project is to write a paper formulating and discussing a hypothesis about the relationship between wealth and power as reflected in the historical records for Salem Village during the 17th century. There is heavy emphasis on graphical and other methods as tools for finding and presenting patterns.