{"id":14816,"date":"2019-03-13T16:26:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T16:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=14816"},"modified":"2023-07-06T16:08:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T16:08:18","slug":"discovery-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/13\/discovery-core","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter and the core of discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/astrolabe.jpg\" alt=\"An astrolabe\" class=\"wp-image-26046\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An astrolabe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Seldom is there a college class where students have read more on a topic than the professor, but that might be the case with The Science and Medicine of Harry Potter. It\u2019s one of the Discovery Core classes for first-year, pre-major students at the University of Washington Bothell.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Harkewicz, a lecturer in the <a href=\"\/ias\">School of Interdisciplinary Arts &amp; Sciences<\/a>, is a Harry Potter fan. However, she admits she is not as \u201cadept\u201d as some of her students. Some have read all of the books in the popular J.K. Rowling fantasy series multiple times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the class isn\u2019t really about the young wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It\u2019s about new students at UW Bothell \u2014 teaching them critical thinking and how to succeed at college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI ask them to try to make connections between various scenes in Harry Potter and real-world science, as well as their own experience,\u201d Harkewicz said. \u201cBeing able to relate to your own experience is the way we make sense of the world, and that\u2019s the way science works.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It\u2019s about science <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Harkewicz set three themes for the course:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li> how the magic of Harry Potter might be connected to real science and medicine; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> how magic became science, and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> ethics in science and medicine. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m really interested how culture affects science and how science affects culture,\u201d Harkewicz said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students are required to read the first book, \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone,\u201d first published in the United States in 1998, and to watch the \u201cSorcerer\u2019s Stone\u201d movie, which was released in 2001. Students are asked to think about scientific explanations for things such as Dumbledore (the head wizard) controlling lights and how Harry Potter\u2019s broken arm is mended with a spell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mandrakes and astrolabes <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/laura-harkewicz.jpg\" alt=\"Laura Harkewicz at her desk\" class=\"wp-image-26047\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Laura Harkewicz shows how students research. UW Bothell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The screaming mandrake in the book sends students to research the biology and history of the mandrake plant. The root was thought to resemble a human, while its alkaloid toxins produced hallucinations likely responsible for its magical associations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students found time to build a paper astrolabe, a device used by ancient navigators to measure the noon sun\u2019s angle and determine latitude. Another resource is online exhibits, such as one at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/exhibition\/sciencemagicmedicine\/\">National Library of Medicine<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harkewicz is also interested in talking about prejudice and power through the characters. Harry Potter is a half-blood. His father was a wizard and his mother not. Hermione is a mudblood, which means she has no wizard relatives. Ron Weasley, a pureblood, is the son of a witch and wizard. The class also talks about how people in authority talk about monsters to keep others in line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m hoping that it just changes the way they look at different things,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A historian of science and a science studies scholar, Harkewicz also has taught History of Medicine; Science, Technology and Society; and Bioethics. She said Harry Potter is a dream class. Many faculty at UW Bothell say they like Discovery Core because they can propose courses they want to teach. Harkewicz has a couple more dream courses in mind: Atomic History through Movies and the Science of Yoga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More dream courses <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/cinnamon-hillyard-crop.jpg\" alt=\"Cinnamon Hillyard\" class=\"wp-image-26048\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cinnamon Hillyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Harry Potter is one of the most successful courses in Discovery Core, said Cinnamon Hillyard, the interim associate vice chancellor for undergraduate learning. Hillyard oversees the <a href=\"\/premajor\">Office of Undergraduate Learning (formerly First Year &amp; Pre-Major Program)<\/a>, which includes Discovery Core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program was introduced in 2006 when UW Bothell became a four-year institution. The yearlong series of classes aims to help students transition to academic life. More than that, it introduces students to the campus values \u2014 bridging disciplines in small classes where the student-faculty relationship can develop, Hillyard said. Discovery Core also helps students feel they belong on campus, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fall courses aim at developing academic skills through eye-opening courses, such as Philosophical Explorations of Science Fiction, and Religion and Film. Winter quarter classes turn students toward research with courses such as Harry Potter. Spring quarter classes ask the students to reflect on their first year as they think about a major. They build an e-portfolio in courses such as Autobiographical Ethnography or Cultures of the Northwest. The courses count toward the UW general education requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New for spring 2019 is a two-credit Discovery Core class with peer instructors, supervised by faculty. \u201cThey can still have that key experience of reflection without taking a full five-credit load,\u201d Hillyard said. \u201cWe&#8217;ve really worked hard to choose a diverse set of peers so that students see themselves reflected in those peer facilitators.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Students have their say <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/tatiana-gefter.jpg\" alt=\"Tatiana-Gefter\" class=\"wp-image-26049\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tatiana Gefter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To keep Discovery Core fresh, an assessment team is looking at what works and what might need changing, Hillyard said. As part of that, all first-year students will be asked in spring quarter to complete a survey about their experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harry Potter student Tatiana Gefter said Discovery Core does help some students adjust. \u201cThis class in particular is good for students who are trying to learn how to research. It&#8217;s done in a very interesting way where we have to connect Harry Potter to real-world examples and topics,\u201d Gefter said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gefter took a performing arts course in fall quarter and will finish with a mythology course in the spring. \u201cI wish Discovery Core was available to students in other years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/laura-teaching.jpg\" alt=\"Laura Harkewicz teaching in the classroom.\" class=\"wp-image-26050\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Laura Harkewicz teaching in the classroom. UW Bothell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Science and Medicine of Harry Potter, one of the most successful Discovery Core courses, asks first-year students at UW Bothell to research the topic from multiple disciplines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[298],"school":[],"class_list":["post-14816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-pre-major"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":null,"link_2":null,"link_3":null,"link_4":null,"link_5":null},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":null,"button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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