Madisson Whitman

Grading standards were a little confusing, in that guidelines were scarce but feedback was specific and focused on the standards that submissions did not meet. However, if you met with a TA that helped.

There was a good amount of reading but the assignments themselves aren't bad at all. The professor doesn't grade (they just give feedback), they're extremely lenient and understanding with deadlines (and you're not penalized for turning things in late they just take longer to give you feedback), and they give students a lot freedom to do their own thing. We had three short essays and a grant proposal project, but even the essays were very open to alternative assignments if you just asked the professor. There was no midterm and the final was just a reflection on the course and what you had achieved, and asking you what grade you'd give yourself.

Listen it wasn't for me. I hoped the class would be a history of science and its role in society, government, daily life and honestly Im not sure what the class ended up being about. It had the potential to be interesting so if you're used to humanities courses maybe it will be enjoyable. The content for the alchemy portion of the class was fairly repetitive and extremely focused on Western European science history. As for the AI portion, it was a lot of discussing how we should feel about AI and not a lot of discussion on how we can do anything to support or limit the implementation of AI.

Professor Whitman is a fabulous professor that really engages with and cares for their students. They ask interesting questions and treat students as if their ideas are just as important as theirs. Unsettling Science has a wide range of readings of many different styles, and they're all very eye-opening. The professor is critical of the readings they assign, and they give context on where the authors are writing from. They make these clarifications in class as well as in their annotations on Perusall, which are super helpful. Perusall is also just great for asking questions, giving your thoughts, hearing others' ideas and so on. And the professor counts annotations on Perusall as participation which is nice. The class also involves writing a grant proposal (that you don't actually have to submit). The professor provides a ton of guidance for the proposal. The assignment (and guidance) gave us a lot of practical skills and emphasized students' own thoughts, passions, and abilities. The professor also records/zooms every class and doesn't have an attendance policy. The content of the course (and their approach) is what made me interested in science and technology studies. Also, I thought the professor's inclusion/analysis of AI was very interesting, even as someone that is not into AI like that. Everyone I talked to from the class was motivated not by fear but instead excitement…

There is a fair bit of writing for this class, but you can totally get away with never doing the readings.

Entirely entirely self-graded. She said that she'd be happy if everyone left with an A. Three "precis" due every ~3 weeks, she reads them and provides detailed commentary One final grant proposal, a group project with lots of class time to work on

Very fun history class about science with lots of discussions. There are no tests, only essays, and projects that are choose your own adventure.

To be clear, Professor Whitman is not a History professor. She has her PhD in Anthropology and constantly clarifies that she is an Anthropologist by trade. I'm not entirely sure why Unsettling Science is categorized as a history class, but it's more of a survey on the history of technology and various impacts or themes accompanying modern technology. We spent a lot of time discussing AI, which was initially interesting but eventually became a bit repetitive. I don't think the class has been taught for very long, so the generalized themes that we covered each week like "power" and "health" tend to blend into one another and the powerpoints need clarification. Professor Whitman provides genuinely interesting readings that address a large variety of topics, mainly from the second half of the 20th century. The class is a lecture but she teaches it in discussion-format in which you can participate as much or as little as you'd like. You get out of the class what you put in to it, so if you decide to not read for a week nobody will really know.

Three mini-essays and an expectation to participate either in-class or by leaving comments on readings on the Perusall platform. Also a grant proposal concept, presentation, and written proposal completed in a group. Not too much work at all but make sure to do the readings to benefit most. The class is SELF GRADED! I repeat, SELF GRADED! The final is writing a short reasoning on why you think you deserve a certain grade and the professor will give it to you if it's fair reasoning.

Professor Whitman is fabulous. This course is the reason I decided to major in anthropology. She encourages us to question and debate openly and fosters an incredibly welcoming environment. She is very good at leading class discussions and getting her students to participate. She is also very willing to work one on one with everyone. She's awesome!