Welcome to Science Court!
Science Court is a project designed to combat polarization in American society and strengthen democracy. It is run as an interdisciplinary course in the University of Minnesota Honors Program involving students from across the university. The students select a controversial issue and spend an entire semester studying it in depth to determine the facts (based on sound scientific research) and then argue it in a mock trial in front of a jury of citizens with a mix of views and backgrounds. The public is engaged through compelling audio, video and online content generated by the students about the preparations, trial and verdict. The trial is free and open to the public.
The 2022 Science Court case is
Grading practices at the University of Minnesota can lead to bias, stress, and disincentivize learning, new innovative student assessment methods should be adopted
This year's Science Court is in partnership with the University of Minnesota (UMN) Student Senate. This topic is inspired by a Student Senate resolution, approved on December 3, 2020, requesting an extension of the UMN policy allowing students to opt for S/N grading (Satisfactory/Not satisfactory) in any course due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Science Court case generalizes this to a full reevaluation of how students are assessed at UMN. This is timely considering increasing concerns regarding student mental health, the increased emphasis on student diversity and equity, changes in how students learn due to the technological environment, the increase in scholastic dishonesty facilitated by the internet and social media, and the rise of remote learning.
Science Court will consider student assessment holistically exploring what is known from scientific research in domains of knowledge informing this topic and propose two main strategies, Refine versus Reform, for the Student Senate to consider.
- The "Reform" (pro) approach proposes to replace the current UMN system with alternative methods for grading and student assessment proposed in the literature and tested at other institutions.
- The “Refine” (con) approach will argue to largely retain the current UMN grading system with modifications aimed at addressing its limitations based on research findings.
Stay tuned or follow us on twitter or join the Science Court mailing list to be kept informed.
LATEST BLOG POSTS
Nuclear Power: How complicated can it really be?
We've all heard of nuclear power, but how much does the average person really know about it? How important is it in the energy industry? And what is the current status of nuclear power here in the US? In this episode you'll get a crash-course in the state of nuclear power in the United States, and with it a good idea of why we're taking it to court.
Evidence Challenge: What's In and What's Out?
Yesterday evening, our Science and Legal Teams participated in the Science Court Pre-Trial Evidence Review Challenge. The members of the Science Team presented the sources that the class and instructors decided should be challenged on the grounds of relevance and cause. Each domain group argued why their sources should not be thrown out of the usable evidence pool for the trial. Judge Bill McGinnis, along with help from our guest Scientific Sources Expert, then heard arguments from both the pro and con legal teams on why they thought the Science Team's sources should be kept in evidence or removed altogether. After some very convincing research presentations and legal arguments, Judge McGinnis made his final decision and threw out 4 of the 5 sources argued on grounds of cause in addition to removing 2 of the 5 sources argued on grounds of relevance. That's a wrap on our pre-trial evidence review, so now you might be wondering what happens next? Stay tuned to keep up to date on the next few weeks of preparation for the our culminating semester event: the much awaited trial. What will the jury decide?
What's the Deal with Nuclear Power?
You may be asking yourself... why nuclear power? What is so important about it? Well, we can't give you all the research just yet; that would be a spolier. Our science team is working hard to research nuclear power and answer all of those burning questions that you might have, but for now we thought it was time we gave you an overview on the state of nuclear power. Our legal and programming teams worked together to create a "State of the Issue" explainer video to give our audience an overview of some of the details and facts about nuclear power. So, what's the deal with nucelar power? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfPzhSxZpys&feature=youtu.be