Subject:  Summer Course in _The Origin_
From:  "Robert Edgar" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:  <[log in to unmask]>
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A CyberEd COURSE IN DARWIN'S _ORIGIN_

Taking comfort in long-standing traditions of science being an interplay
of observations and expectations, and notwithstanding Louis Agassiz's
appeal to "Study Nature, not books" -- hardly to be taken as a mutually
exclusive dichotomy -- I do not feel out-of-place as a biologist in
offering this summer, as a complement to a plenty of field courses in
biology, a course in Darwin's _Origin_  -- in Cyberspace.

I have taught an undergraduate honors course focussed on a critical
analysis of the first edition of Darwin's _Origin_ for 20 years to
classes of about 15 students at the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth.  This summer I will adapt that course to instruction over the
Web and thus make it available to students anywhere in the world who are
interested in Darwin.   A description of this 3-credit undergraduate
course, limited to 12 students and beginning on June 1, 1999 for 10
weeks, is available at

https://ssl.umassd.edu/cybered/newstudents/catalog.html
[Note:  yes, that is 'https'; it is a secure site.]

If your department has students that might be interested in experiencing
Darwin this summer, I would appreciate your notice of this course to
them.  The course is designed for students --  not only biologists
--with a curiosity about nature and a facility and affection for reading
and writing.   Further information can be obtained from the instructor:

[log in to unmask]

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Robert K. Edgar
Professor of Biology
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA 02747 USA
voice 508-999-8863 / fax 508-999-8196
email:  [log in to unmask]
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