I. Introduction to science programs, faculty, and research opportunities at Wilkes University

II. How to be an outstanding student. How to take notes, distill information, and take exams.

III. Group dynamics and decision-making; introduction to brainstorming and BOGSAT methods

IV. Introduction to computing

A. Nature of computers (mainframes, PCs)

B. Important applications on PCs (word processing, drawing and painting programs, spreadsheets and databases, presentation programs)

C. Orientation to the Internet (e-mail, browsing the World Wide Web, setting up a personal webpage, using the Web to obtain important text-based, quantitative, and image-based information)

V. Scientific bibliographic skills

A. Nature of conventional and electronic scientific publication

B. Searching for references in print and electronic media

VI. Presenting and interpreting data

A. The nature of scientific data

B. Graphical presentation of data

C. Drawing inferences from data - introduction to statistics

VII. Communicating science to the general public

A. Role of scientists in communicating science

B. Role of media in communicating science

Week 1 - Course introduction / How to be an outstanding student / Wilkes science programs

Week 2 - Introduction to computing at Wilkes (Wilkes1, PC's) / Introduction to word processing / How to send and receive effective e-mail messages

Week 3 - Introduce team projects / More on word processing

Week 4 - Conclude word processing / Browsing the World Wide Web

Week 5 - Nature of scientific literature / bibliographic search techniques

Week 6 - Nature of scientific data / graphical presentation of data

Week 7 - Drawing inferences from data - Introduction to statistics / Introduction to Excel

Week 8 - More on Excel

Week 9 - Computer ethics / Databases

Week 10 - Computer -based imaging / Image manipulation programs / GIS

Week 10 - Project updates / Powerpoint

Week 11 - Introduction to web authoring / Setting up a personal webpage

Week 12 - Using the web to find data / Metadata / Web data manipulation

Week 13 - Public understanding of science / Ethical dimensions

Week 14 - Project presentations