Spring 2026 History BC3076 section 001

The Science of World History

The Science of World Hist

Call Number 00898
Day & Time
Location
W 2:10pm-4:00pm
To be announced
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Matthew Delvaux
Type SEMINAR
Course Description

This seminar prepares students to engage with material sciences used in historical studies. Students will examine how ice cores, tree rings, isotopes, bone morphology, genetic materials, and chemical compositions have all been used as keys into the human past, appraising successes and failures. Assignments will offer temporal depth and geographic breadth, ranging from the micro to the global. This course contributes to curricula for the Columbia Center for Science and Society, emphasizing connectivity, migration, and the environment to support the Climate Humanities minor while examining to how material studies are used in broader support of the Science and Society minor. Students from the sciences will meanwhile have an opportunity to develop skills in navigating and communicating within humanistic understandings of rigor. This course will culminate in students selecting a site, collection, or method to evaluate how studies have measured against apparent possibilities for scientific research and historical interpretation in that field.

Web Site Vergil
Department History @Barnard
Enrollment 0 students (15 max) as of 3:06PM Thursday, October 9, 2025
Subject History
Number BC3076
Section 001
Division Barnard College
Note 2nd choice - M 2:10-4 PM. 4 pts. Instructor Permission Requi
Section key 20261HIST3076X001