Friday, March 30, 2012
In my efforts to think more about what makes history and history of science distinct, I reread R. G. Collingwood’s The Idea of History. I appreciate that it is old and perhaps out of fashion, but I think it offers some useful suggestions about historical practice.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 03/30 at 10:24 AM
(1) Comments •
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Lynn Nyhart’s recent column in the HSS Newsletter calling for a rethinking of the history of science profession echoes comments and suggestions made by historians. We need to take her seriously if we are going to extend the profession beyond the walls of the academy.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 02/26 at 11:27 PM
Saturday, February 25, 2012
In this post I continue to wonder about how to practice the history of science. In particular, I reflect on what might constituted historical expertise, which distinguishes historians from non-historians.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 02/25 at 11:45 PM
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
In this post I reflect on some key intellectual questions in the history of science and articulate why I care about the history of science. Finally, I try to make the case that historians of science should take a more active role in shaping the public discourse that invokes past science.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 02/22 at 11:42 PM
Thursday, December 29, 2011
A recent article in The Economist on Luther prompted me to think about ephemeral astrological literature in early modern Europe. Here I suggest that we need to take this literature more seriously than we typically have.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 12/29 at 04:58 PM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
In this final review of my “Biography of a Map” project I try to indicate where the project worked well, at times really well, and where there remains some room for improvement. In the end, I would say this experiment in pedagogy was a success.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 12/27 at 02:29 PM
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Reflecting on recent concerns about how science is taught (concerns that, we learn, seem to be perennial), I spent some time thinking about a role for the history of science in teaching science. This post surveys some proposed changes to that science curriculum and collects my inchoate thoughts on a role for the history of science in this re-imagined science curriculum.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 11/23 at 09:00 AM
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Prompted by a two very different reviews of Westman’s The Copernican Question, I spent a morning thinking about the form and purpose of a book review. This post tries to hammer those thoughts into something useful.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 11/13 at 12:56 PM
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Having looked at students’ initial efforts to write cartographic biographies, I am rethinking how I can accomplish the goals I initially set forth. Here I think about some possible ways forward.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 10/18 at 10:02 PM
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A review of some student work on the “Biography of a Map” assignment. Students consistently looked beyond the map itself, placing it in the context in order to recover the meaning it had for the original maker or the person who commissioned it. This post looks at efforts to understand three maps William Penn had made of his new colony.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 10/12 at 01:26 AM