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Rebecca L. Jackson, PhD

Philosophy & History of Measurement | Clinical Measurement Methodology

Teaching

Self-designed Course

Measurement, Meaning, and Manipulation: How Humans and Data Shape Each Other

HPSC-X200 SCIENTIFIC REASONING - Spring 2019

Description:

How we measure matters. From the time we’re born, until the day we die, we are subject to a wide variety of metrics: from your height and weight and heartbeat, to your SAT scores and personality type and economic status. Measurement is how we predict what’s next, evaluate what works, and improve our quality of life and the precision of our knowledge. Yet, measurement also has a complicated history of abuse and misuse, and has often been used as a tool to manipulate or oppress. This course will dive into the reasoning behind both historical and current examples of measurement from physics, biology, psychology, medicine, and social sciences. Assignments for this course will consist primarily of short papers and small projects pertaining to readings, with a self-selected final project which will further develop one of these short assignments into a substantial paper or work.

Student Reviews

Preview of answers below. To view all student evaluations, click here.

“What I liked most about this instructor…”

tldr; she is ENTHUSIASTIC
Becca was super enthusiastic about the course and is very knowledgeable about the topics. She really motivated me to become interested in the subject and write about it effectively. I liked how she tried to understand each person's opinion and help to lead them in the right direction while still letting them think for themselves.
At first I wasn't sure how I was going to like the class because I usually don't like discussion based classes, but I ended up really liking the class. I thought that the course content was interesting and different to think about. Most of the readings were interesting and a good read.
Becca is a very understanding professor, always making us feel comfortable to pipe in during discussion and provide our own opinions. I had thought (going into the course) that I had already known a lot about measurement but I did learn some interesting topics, like counting death. Although some of the readings were very dry, there were a few that were easy to read and very engaging.
Becca was a great instructor and so encouraging. She is very knowledgable in the topic that was taught which made the class very exciting. She also got very excited about all the answers that were said during our discussions, which allowed all of us students to feel comfortable and good about their learning and thinking processes. I learned a lot from this course and my thinking processes have expanded a lot.

“What I liked least about this instructor…”

tldr; her 2.5-hour-long, twice-weekly class actually lasted for 2.5 hours most of the time :(
I thought that class time discussion was often dragged out. I understand that the allotted time slot for this class is from 2:30pm to 5pm but it felt like there were times where we beat the horse to death on a topic and there isn't much more discussion to go off of. We do have good conversations and discussions in class and this is a later class so I hope that future students will be rewarded for being attentive and engaging by leaving even earlier.
I did not like all of the readings but they helped me better understand topics talked about in class.
There was one lecture where a lot of us did not have opinions on because most of us agreed with each other, which created a dry and slow discussion. It was the topic of subjectivity and objectivity, and most of us students agreed that measurements are subjective.
Kinda harsh on participation. I talk at least once a day and still got a mediocre participation grade

All Courses Taught

at Indiana University - Bloomington

Introductory Philosophy Courses - “Scientific Reasoning” (HPSC-X200)

Introductory History/Humanities Course - “Critical Approaches in Natural and Mathematical Sciences” (COLL-C105)

Introductory History/Humanities Course - “Critical Approaches in Science & Humanities” (COLL-C104)

Introductory Human Biology Lab Courses - “The Intricate Human” (HUBI-B200/S200):

Senior Human Biology Capstone Course - “Complex Problems of Humanity” (HUBI-B400):

Courses Under Development

Measuring Greatness

Description:

How do we measure a society’s greatness? Do we measure economic growth, health, happiness, opportunity — and if so, for whom? Gandhi said, “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” In the first part of the course, students will learn about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Five Well-Being Index, the Official Poverty Measure, and the Social Progress Index. During the latter part of the course, students will then select one of these measures to research in depth and critique. For their final group project, students will propose a change to focus one of these measures on better serving a marginalized population of their choice.

Your Grandmother’s Eggs: The history of women’s reproductive health, from womb to menopause

Description:

This course organizes the history of women’s reproductive health thematically by the chronology of the body: childhood, pubescence, adulthood, menopause, and post-menopause. The current state of our scientific knowledge (and lackthereof!) of what the body experiences in each of these stages has been shaped by changing historical imaginations of the female body. Key episodes of this history—from Soranus’ balloon-like view of the uterus, to the invention of the Chamberlen forceps, to the emergence of birth control pills (and controlling who can get them)—will be explored in this course, in connection to current issues faced today in advancing women’s health.