Science majors don't need to be experts on the French Revolution, existentialism, or Greek tragedy, but they can pick up valuable skills in humanities courses.

Humanities classes teach science students to write and speak clearly and persuasively, to evaluate text critically and to approach problems logically.

There's no secret formula of "must-take'' humanities courses for science majors, although experts agree that effective writing and communications skills are huge advantages for aspiring scientists. Some advisers recommend technical writing and public speaking classes. English, history, political science and philosophy also can improve writing and critical thinking abilities.

"Ultimately it may not matter so much whether the student learns philosophy or American history,'' said Dr. Philip T. Hoffman, a history and social science professor at the California Institute of Technology. "The key thing is to acquire some skills that students would pick up in all humanities courses to greater or lesser degrees.''

Hoffman notes three sets of skills that humanities courses can develop:

The ability to express yourself in writing and in speech. Even scientists can't escape from writing. Scientists in companies make presentations. Researchers write papers and grant proposals. Employees at engineering firms write memos and reports for clients. To perform these tasks well, writing classes are an obvious plus. But many other humanities classes also demand rigorous writing. In philosophy classes, for example, students learn to analyze arguments and to reason clearly, logically, and persuasively.

The ability to read critically. "We're inundated with things we read or look at,'' Hoffman said. "Even bright students will read material and either accept it as true or cynically cast it aside.'' Humanities courses teach students to evaluate text—a more sophisticated approach than simply memorizing and regurgitating information. In history classes, students learn to weigh arguments and to scrutinize the sources of information. They learn to ask, "What's the point of this article? Is it persuasive? Is the evidence solid? Does the writer have a particular bias or viewpoint?''

A sense that the world can change. Humanities classes can expand students' horizons by showing that the world is not static and that scientific advances don't occur in a vacuum. Science influences and is influenced by the world around it. The world "has not always been the way it is now, and will not be so in the future,'' Hoffman said. He said economic history, for example, teaches that the "engine of economic growth today is scientific growth'' and that prosperous countries have learned to harness technological and scientific changes.

Dr. Chris Falzone, a chemistry department adviser at Pennsylvania State University, believes philosophy and history classes influence the way scientists approach their work. He says science majors should have some understanding of the historical forces surrounding scientific discoveries and of their own motives for wanting to pursue science.

"I have a friend who said, 'There are two kinds of scientists: those worried about the existence of God and those worried about how their radio works,'" Falzone said. "You have to know why you're interested in science, and sometimes people lose perspective.''

Falzone said history classes provide a context for scientific discoveries and illustrate their impact on society. As an example, he cited the Industrial Revolution, which transformed an agrarian society and ushered in the era of factories and machines. Industrialists used scientific knowledge to strengthen business practices and increase productivity.

Learning languages also can benefit science majors, especially students interested in working for multinational companies. In some ways, mastery of languages has become less important. The Internet has enabled scientists to obtain translations of research articles quickly, and scientists increasingly are using English as their universal language.

But Falzone said employers appreciate hires that can speak additional languages. He recommends German, Russian, French or Japanese. Hindi is another option because India is becoming more active in biotechnology and other sciences.

Like Hoffman, Falzone emphasizes the importance of learning to write clearly.

"Anytime you can make a complicated subject clearer and give it a very simple description, people walk away and feel like they learned something,'' he said.

LaTrease Garrison, the American Chemical Society's senior education manager for undergraduate programs, says a science technical writing class can teach students to deliver complex information in a readable style that non-scientists can understand.

Garrison, who received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Howard University, also advises science majors to take a public speaking course.

"A lot of students are afraid to speak in public because they're used to just sitting in a lab and working,'' she said. "A public speaking course teaches you to deliver a message clearly and concisely without getting nervous''—or at least how to control those nerves and get through the speech.

Lynn Willis, who writes and edits articles for Chemistry.org, advises science students to sign up for humanities classes that seem entertaining.

"Pick what's interesting to you because you'll learn skills in any classes that you take,'' Willis said. As a Johns Hopkins University chemistry student, she took a humanities class called Humor Through the Ages, which examined the evolution of humor from ancient Greece to modern times. She also took a play-writing class and a film course that analyzed the director's role as "ruler'' of a film's universe.

For one political science class, Willis had to write a paper every week. "The only way to get to be a good writer is to write and get feedback,'' Willis said. She said the classes helped her organize text and present well-reasoned arguments.

"I don't apply the political science things that I learned, but the fact that I had to write papers all the time certainly helped my writing skills,'' she said. The classes also taught her to work collaboratively and to recognize that people bring different perspectives to their work. She realized, "There isn't always just one way to solve a problem.''

Rachel Smolkin is a Washington-area freelance writer. She previously worked as a national reporter in the Washington, D.C. bureau of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade and covered issues such as health care and education. She also worked at Scripps Howard News Service as a national education reporter and as the Washington, D.C. correspondent for The Albuquerque Tribune in New Mexico and the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama.

 

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