Mike Thicke

This term I am TAing HPS250 – Introductory Philosophy of Science. Since I’ve decided to put a lot more effort into designing lessons than I have previously, I will be relating my experiences here in the hope that they might be useful for others and that it will help me improve my teaching in the future. You can read the first instalment here:

I really like how our instructors, Agnes Bolinska and Hakob Barseghyan, have designed the course this term. In particular, I like that they have selected readings which span the major developments in philosophy of science during the 20th century while also speaking directly to each other. I’m also very happy with how they have designed the grading scheme for the course. Students receive marks for the final essay, an essay proposal, a short summary / critique assignment, and 5-minute multiple choice quizzes in tutorials. I think exams are a pretty bad method of evaluation in general, but especially so for a subject like philosophy. Philosophy takes time—you need to think about a problem carefully, not just write down the first 300 words that occur to you in response to an exam question.

Anyways, for the first assignment students had to write a 3-page paper where the first two pages responded to one of the readings from the first five weeks of class and the last page criticized one point made in that reading. For the second tutorial, which would be the third week of class, I decided to do a mini version of that assignment. I presented the students with an argument taken from Nelson Goodman’s “The New Riddle of Induction”:

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This term, January through April, I am embarking on my fourth assignment as a teaching assistant and my third chance to run tutorials. Previously I’ve been somewhat relaxed (read: lazy) about running tutorials—I would do the readings, go to lecture, make some notes about what topics I think need clarification or reinforcement, and wing it from there. Although I always attempted to promote discussion, too often my tutorials would degenerate into an extra hour of lecture. In my defence, I’ve been somewhat handicapped by large (30-40 student) tutorials and subject matter that didn’t lend itself to discussion, but in hindsight I certainly could have done better.

This year my girlfriend Michelle took a job with the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program.  During the summer and fall we spent a lot of time discussing what she was learning and what she was teaching new TAs. Not only did this give me a lot of good ideas for running tutorials, but it simply woke me up to the fact that I could be doing a lot more. In particular, I hadn’t been paying enough attention to the fact that tutorials are one of the few ways for students to have their own voice in their undergraduate education. Most of the time they are expected to absorb lecture or reading material and regurgitate it in exams. Not only does facilitating discussion help students learn, but it also can give them a sense of engagement with the material that they wouldn’t otherwise have. So my overriding priority for my tutorials this term is to ensure that every student gets every opportunity to participate fully.

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Let’s say I’m a weak or aspiring vegetarian. I’m not particularly concerned with animal rights or cruelty, but I do care about the environmental impact of eating meat. An often-cited Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report found that livestock such as cows generate more greenhouse gasses than all of our transportation systems (cars, airplanes, ships, etc.) combined. This finding might be somewhat deceptive, or missing the point, but nevertheless it’s hard to argue against the environmental reasons for vegetarianism.

But as I said, we’re assuming I’m weak. I decide that if there is meat put in front of me, or that is going to waste, I’ll eat it. So if at some departmental function there are ham sandwiches served, I’ll take one. I won’t buy meat in the supermarket or order it at a restaurant though. Am I ethically in the clear, from an environmental standpoint?

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My first backpacking trip, many years ago, was a weekend hike to Tundra Lake above the Stein Vally south of Pemberton, BC. Ever since then I’ve been dying to go back to the Stein Valley to do the full traverse.

Tundra Lake on Peter Eugster's 2006 Stein Valley traverse

Unfortunately this summer was particularly bad for forest fires in B.C. and a couple of small fires in the valley caused the trail to be closed. So I went looking for other trails of a similar length, and which would be feasible to access without a vehicle. The best option I found was The Sunshine Coast Trail, which runs 180 kilometers along the entire northern section of the Sunshine Coast. I chose to do the southernmost three sections of the trail from Powell River to Saltery Bay. These sections combine to 128 kilometers. You can see a map here [pdf].

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Reading List

Whenever I start reading on a subject, whether it is related to science, technology, government, or the environment, I end up at economics, or something closely related to economics like complexity theory. When it comes to economics, though, I hit two walls: my superficial understanding and a complete lack of consensus, or even constructive dialogue, about what economics tells us, the validity of various economic theories, or where economic thought is applicable.

This divide is well-illustrated by an Economist article from 2002, “Why Naomi Klein needs to grow up”:

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This is based on a podcast out of Duke University, EconTalk, that seems to offer a clear and honest neoliberal viewpoint. The first show I listened to was “Michael Munger on Fair Trade and Free Trade” from December 3, 2007. This post is trying to understand the first part of their discussion, on Fair Trade. I’m also going to relate it to a paper I read on farm subsidies a while ago, and a Globe and Mail article I read this morning on an European Union program that pays farmers to convert their land into forests. You can listen to the show below. The following discussion assumes you’ve listened to at least the first 20 minutes….

Munger
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Way back in September I had this grand plan to start a blog to keep friends and family updated now that I’m “in exile” in Toronto. Turns out grad school is a lot of work and I’m pretty lazy. So most of my “free time” has involved watching reruns of Lost while procrastinating.

A ton of people have asked me “So how’s Toronto?” since I moved out here. Toronto is… big. It inevitably reminds me of other large cities. I get wafts of raw sewage smell quite often, which reminds me of Bangkok, as does the practice of leaving trash on the sidewalks for collection—I think because Toronto has far fewer back alleys than Vancouver. Levels of homelessness appear approximately the same as in Vancouver, though I don’t see as much drug use (not that I’m looking!). I encounter more people who genuinely seem like they need money to get a bite to eat. I don’t know what people on the street do here when it gets really cold. I always say “no” to people asking for money, but I think I need to look for a good organization in Toronto to give some support. Read the rest of this entry »