Handout #2 

STS.185/6.972

The Structure of Engineering Revolutions

Course Outline

Fall, 1997  

  1. Introduction and Background

    2. September 4: (Thurs)

    Session I: (full class) Introduction, course overview.

  2. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    3. September 9:

    Reading: Kuhn, Structure (pp. 1-110)

    September 11:

    Reading: Kuhn, Structure (pp. 110-210)

    Assignment Due (September 11): Two-page response paper.

  3. The Social Construction of Technological Systems

    4. September 16:

    Reading: Donald MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance Chapters 1-3, skim Chapter 4. 

    September 30:

    Reading: Donald MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance Chapters 7-8.

    Assignment Due: Two-page response paper.

  4. The Systems Approach

    5. September 23: (Tue)

    Guest Lecture: Thomas P. Hughes

    Reading: TBD.

  5. Engineering Cultures

    6. September 25: (Thurs)

    Reading: Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine

  6. Engineering Epistemology

    7. September 30 (Tue)

    Reading: Walter Vincenti, What Engineers Know and How they Know it (selections TBD)

    Assignment Due: Two-page response paper.

     

  7. Project Histories

October 2 (Thur)

Introduction to Case Histories

Reading: Preliminary Packet of historical materials

Students Choose Case Histories, in ranked order of preference

October 7,9:

Group Work and Collaborative Writing

Guest: Lori Breslow, Sloan School, MIT

Mid-term paper due (October 9). 

October 14: (Tue)

First Group Meetings

Introduction to project history materials

Development of framing questions for term projects.  

October 16: (Thur)

Group Meeting: Secondary Sources

Book reports on secondary readings

Assignment Due (½ class): Oral presentations and book reviews. 

October 21: (Tue)

Group Meeting: Published Sources

Book reports on published materials

Assignment Due (other ½ class): Oral presentations and source reviews. 

October 23, 28: (Thur, Tue)

Interviews and Memoirs

Invited Speakers to Group Meetings

Assignment Due (October 28): Contact and invite speakers; two-page response papers.  

October 30: (Thur)

Archival Materials

Meeting in MIT Archives 14N-???, introduction to archival materials 

November 4,6: Meeting in MIT / Draper Archives

Assignment Due (November 6): Group proposal/plan of project history. 

[November 11: no class, Veterans’ Day] 

November 13: (Thur)

In-Class group work 

November 18: (Tue)

In-Class group work

Assignment Due: two-page response paper describing some aspect of ongoing research.  

November 20: (Thur)

In-Class group work  

November 25: (Tue)

Commercialization and Production

Guest: Lita Nelson, MIT Technology Licensing Office  

[November 27: no class, thanksgiving] 

December 2: (Tue) Group Presentation of Project Histories

Drafts of projects due the day they are presented  

December 4: (Thur) Group Presentation of Project Histories 

December 9: (Tue) Group Presentation of Project Histories  

Final projects due December 12, 5pm.