Welcome to Science Court!

Photo of the 2018 Science Court trial showing a student attorney from the con team questioning a witness in front of judge, jury, instructors and audience

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.

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Watch talk by Prof. Ellad Tadmor on Science Court given as part of the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Curiosity Drives Progress Lecture Series

 

Logo of MPR News with Kerri Miller show

Listen to an interview with Kerri Miller on MPR News discussing Science Court with Prof. Ellad Tadmor and student Like Diamond.

Picture of a large hall full of desks with students taking a test

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.

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LATEST BLOG POSTS

Evidence Challenge: An Update from our Programming Team

So you might be curious as to what actually happened at our Evidence Challenge a couple of weeks ago?  What went down? Who argued what?  What did Judge Bill McGinnis decide as to what research the science and legal teams could use as evidence and what they must throw out of the pool?  Watch this explainer video made by our Programming Team member Grace O'Neil to see for yourself!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDW-LXHNRA&feature=youtu.be

The Mock Trial with a Guest Appearance from Assistant US Attorney Tim Rank

Tonight's Science Court class began our mock trial preparation for the final trial, which...believe it or not... is a mere week and a half away!  Our science team began the show tonight by presenting their domain  research to the class as a practice round for their presentations at the trial.  With expert feedback from Assistant US Attorney Tim Rank who joined us for tonight's class, the science domains are on track to tidy up their presentations for the trial and make sure that they are able to give our jury all of the necessary background research to make their final decision.  Next week, our pro and con legal teams will present their arguments in a practice round during our last class before the trial on the 23rd.  Everyone is doing some pretty incredible research and their hardwork is paying off.  We can't wait to showcase all of the work we did this semester next Saturday.  Hopefully, you'll join us as our journey comes to a rewarding end! Special thank you goes out to Mr. Rank for joining us tonight and giving us some very valuable tips on how to make our trial presentations more effective and our trial run smoothly!

For more details on what went down tonight, check out the pictures and live updates on our social media platforms using our handle @scicourt!