Course Syllabus

Course: The concept of "concepts" in cognitive science, aka CONCEPTS (Cognitive Science 185:310, Index number 0104470)

Professor: Jacob Feldman (email, website) and possibly guest lecturers.

Class time and place: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:40pm—3:00pm, via Zoom.

  - Zoom details (link, password) are available in Module 0. They aren't posted here for security reasons.

  - To get started with Zoom at Rutgers, go to https://it.rutgers.edu/zoom/ (Links to an external site.)  

  - The first Zoom meeting of the course will be on Tuesday Sept. 1 at 1:40pm.  See you there!

Readings: There is no textbook for this course. Readings are posted in Modules. Note that additional readings may be assigned over the course of the semester, so please be sure to check Modules a week before each topic starts.

Reading responses (located in Assignments):  For each reading (see Modules), please write one paragraph giving a reaction, thought, comment, or question about the reading.   The aim of these responses is to demonstrate that you have read and thought about each reading. 

Exams and grading:

  (20% of grade) Paper 1, due Tuesday, October 6. 

  (20% of grade) Paper 2, due Tuesday, November 3. VOTE!

  (20% of grade) Paper 3, due Tuesday, December 1. 

  (20% of grade) Reading responses (weekly)

  (20% of grade) Final exam: Tuesday, Dec. 15 12pm-2pm. 

Paper assignments (note due dates above—first Tuesday of each month) will be posted later in the term and discussed in class. 

Professor's office hours: By Zoom, Tuesdays at 3:15pm  (link in Module 0).

Policies

 - Slides will be posted after each class, but not before, and are often incomprehensible if you didn't watch the lecture that goes with them. Attending the Zoom lectures is essential to doing well in this course!

 - “Graduation insurance.” If this is your last semester and you need to pass this course in order to graduate on time, email me before Nov 1. If you don’t ask before then, “graduation insurance” will not be offered.

 - Final grades are final. Once grades are assigned after the final exam, grade changes will not be considered. Don’t even ask. If you are having trouble with the material before that, email me or come to office hours.

 - Academic integrity. Cheating and other violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated in this course. The university’s policy on academic integrity can be found here

 - COVID Slack. These are trying times. Remote teaching is new to all of us, and certainly poses new challenges. Please be patient with us as we try to provide a meaningful educational experience, and we will try to be patient with you as you navigate the difficulties the quarantine has imposed on all of us.

 

Schedule of topics

The schedule of topics to be covered, along with links to the readings required for each topic, are available in the Modules section of this site.