Spring 2027

Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II

Examines major developments in Western science and technology from the 17th to early 20th century within philosophical and social contexts.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Yang Li

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Devin Kennedy

Reading assignments varied in length but were generally skimmable, and while lectures were sometimes boring, attendance was not strictly required to understand the material or achieve good grades.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and explain critical developments in how the natural world has been analyzed and understood in early modern and modern periods and cultures.

  • Identify and explain how science and its history have served a wide range of purposes in early modern and modern periods.

  • Recognize and evaluate how early modern and modern science has been deeply shaped by its historical, social, cultural, intellectual, and material contexts.

  • Interpret and evaluate historical sources to construct persuasive arguments concerning science and its history in the early modern and modern periods.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forHIST SCI 202 or 404

ILS 202

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.78 GPA, 92.1% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CATHERINE JACKSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DEVIN KENNEDY is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LYNN K. NYHART is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RICHARD A STALEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YANG LI is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1520
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Catherine Jackson

Past students found the course manageable and engaging, with lectures that used movie clips to break up slides and a friendly atmosphere where professors greeted students with smiles.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.54 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=72 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.90 GPA, 93.5% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.78 GPA, 92.1% A/AB (n=38 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Devin Kennedy

Reading assignments varied in length but were generally skimmable, and while lectures were sometimes boring, attendance was not strictly required to understand the material or achieve good grades.

Past student reviews · Devin Kennedy

Students noted that professors were often accommodating with extensions, though some felt feedback on assignments was lacking or too broad, and discussion participation expectations were sometimes unclear.

Topics

  • Development of Western science and technology.
  • Philosophical and social contexts of scientific developments (17th-early 20th c.).

Skills

  • Identifying and explaining critical developments in the analysis of the natural world.
  • Evaluating the historical, social, cultural, intellectual, and material contexts shaping science.
  • Constructing persuasive arguments from historical sources regarding science's history.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.21 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ILS 202 · Spring 2027

Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:500:010477",
    "course_id": "ILS 202",
    "course_uid": "course_27b67ff18683b848926debf4",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010477",
    "source_subject_id": "500",
    "title": "Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "a6daf8ff1bffb9e0cae82cabe74d985a8df482da1c83e18258c9b77712aeccf1",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}