Test 3 Results

The most popular people were Charles Darwin, Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill; other popular terms include fossil fuels and coolies. There weren’t any real outliers in terms of unpopularity, except maybe Scramble for Africa.

The high score in the class was 44 out of a possible 48, but I used the second-highest score, 42.5, to preserve a reasonable distribution. The median score was a B again, and there were no D-level grades. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:

Grade minimum points distribution
A+ 42.5
A 40 12.5%
A- 38.25
B+ 35
B 30.75 62.5%
B- 27.5
C+ 24.25
C 19 25%
C- 15.75
D+ 12.5
D 8.25
D- 5
F 0

About 1/6 of the class got both extra credit questions correct; about half got one.

Extra Credit Op.: PSU Jazz

The 35th Annual PSU Jazz Festival happens Friday March 6th at 7:30 PM  in Memorial Auditorium, 503 N. Pine. Besides hearing the PSU Jazz 1 and our own Todd Hastings (trumpet) you also can hear a great saxophonist, Eric Marienthal.
Eric is a former member of the Grammy Award winning Chick Corea’s Elektric band and the Rippingtons. Currently he is first call L.A. and can be heard on numerous sound tracks as well as with the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.
Eric records with Peak records and has produced some 11 albums. His sounds have topped the Contemporary Jazz Charts on several occasions.
Tickets for the event are available at the PSU Ticket Office or at the door. The cost is $12.00 adults and $10.00 for those 65 and over or 12 and under.
During the day groups will be performing in McCray, the Student Center, and Memorial Auditorium. These highs school, middle school and community college groups are being judged on their performances. The daytime events are free so step out of your office and catch some great jazz.

Extra Credit Opportunity: To Kill a Mockingbird

The Montana Repertory Theater presents Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockinbird at 7:00 pm on Monday, March 2nd at Memorial Auditorium.

Tickets are on-sale now in the Overman Student Center Ticket Office or by calling 620-235-4796.

$12.00 – General Public

$8.00 – PSU Faculty/Staff, Senior Citizens (65 & over), Children (17 & under)

FREE – PSU Students with Current ID

For more information, please contact the PSU Performing Arts & Lecture Series at 620-235-4795.

Extra Credit: Political Islam

The first Arts and Sciences Lecture of the year

Date: Tuesday, February 17
Time: 3:30 to 4:30 pm
Place: 109 Grubbs Hall

Speaker: Stephen Harmon, Department of History

Title: “What is Political Islam?”

Abstract: My talk will give a definition of political Islam (also called Islamism) and attempt to describe its major tenets. I shall argue that political Islam, far from being the menacing monolith often invoked in superficial analyses, is broken into various strains and numerous individual groups and movements. I shall describe three major strains of political Islam, including Shi’a political Islam and two strains of Sunni political Islam, reformist and radical. I shall focus on the major Sunni groups and movements, both reformist and radical and attempt to assess the threat level posed by them to the US and to US interests.

Test #8 Results

The high score was 28; actually, the highest scores were 29 and 27.5, but 28 is easier for the math. The median was right on the B/B+ border, and a substantial majority of people who took the test improved their overall test grade for the semester. The top three terms were from Chapter 29 — Cold War, genocide and Holocaust — as was the bottom term, European Union. The most popular term from chapter 30 was renewable energy, which tied chapter 29’s Great Depression for fourth place.

Grade Minimum Distribution
A+ 28
A 26.5 20%
A- 25
B+ 23
B 20 60%
B- 18
C+ 16
C 13 20%
C- 11
D+ 19
D 6
D- 4
F 0

Though a lot of people did choose the Holocaust and genocide, I was not terribly happy with the overall results: there was almost nobody who connected either term to the history of nationalism or racial thinking which we talked about fairly extensively; and the textbook seems to have confused some people on the distinction between genocide — the attempt to eliminate a particular people, of which the Holocaust is one example (and often the only one people cited) — and other atrocities.

Test #7 Results

The high score before extra credit was 30; actually, there was about a three or four-way tie at 30. Einstein and Hitler tied for the most popular terms; big bang theory and atomic bombs tied for second. Pragmatism and primitivism tied for last, completely unanswered by anyone. It seemed like there was a cultural divide at work: some people went heavy on political/military terms, while some went mostly for cultural/scientific terms.

Grade Minimum Distribution
A+ 30
A 28 30%
A- 27
B+ 25
B 21.5 40%
B- 19.5
C+ 17.5
C 14 30%
C- 12
D+ 10
D 6.5
D- 4.5
F 0

Test 2 Extra Credit

You got half a point for picking something, and half a point for answering “why.” Right answer? Any of them, if you make a case for it

Number who chose each and my favorite answers:

Aside from maize, the most important new food from the Americas was:

  • Chili Peppers (12): “This was another plant that was a valuable food source because it gave unprecedented flavor to bland European food. This also expanded to other places besides Europe like southeast Asia, such is why Thai food is so spicy.”
  • Chocolate (20): “was very popular in trade and a lot of people desired it. Helped make new foods was grown in different places than origin. Helped in slave trade and imperialism.”
  • Peanuts (5): “Oil was able to be extracted from the peanuts for cooking.”
  • Tomato (3): “It obviously had a huge influence in Italian food.”
  • Vanilla (4): “without vanilla we would not have my favorite ice cream”

Study Terms for Chapters 19 and 20

The complete list of terms for the semester can be found here, and the sample answers from the first quiz are here

Chapter 19

creole
Dahomey
Janissaries
Jean Bodin
law of nations
Manchus
mandarins
maroons
mestizos
Mughal dynasty
Niccolo Machiavelli
nuclear family
Peter the Great
Qizilbash
Queen Nzinga
Safavids
sovereignty
Topkapi palace
Treaty of Westphalia

Chapter 20

botanical gardens
breadfruit
David Ricardo
industrialization
inoculation
James Cook
Marquis de Condorcet
monocultures
Neo Europes
opium
quinine
scurvy
steam power
Thomas Malthus
urbanization

Wednesday’s festivities

First, the important stuff:

  • the History Club is having a bake sale on Wednesday (9/24), starting at 10am on the Oval (Russ Hall 1st floor if it rains).

Now, the nitty-gritty:

  • The test on Wednesday will be slightly different: you’ll still have to pick eight (8) terms to answer, but this time I’ll keep the chapters separate. You’ll have to do at least three (3) from each chapter, and the rest can come from either list. Like last time, you’ll have about fifteen terms to pick from, out of the forty or so on the study list.