[PHYS 0104]
Chaos, Complexity, and Self-organization

Rate This Class

Professor: Dunham J

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (20%
Average (50%)
Valuable (30%)

Material

Friendly (40%)
Average (40%)
Competitive (20%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (60%)
Average (40%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (20%)
3-5hr (50%)
6-8hr (30%)
9-11hr (0%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (40%)
Average (10%)
Easier (50%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (90%)
No (10%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (66.7%)
No (33.3%)

Evaluation Comments for Dunham J

  1. I took this class over J-term, and it was great! If you are not a science person and want to satisfy a SCI requirement, take this course! Professor Dunham is very nice and is a very fair grader. There are no labs for this class; only three books, three quizzes and a paper.
  2. Dunham is a great professor and is always eager to help students understand concepts and ideas of the course. He knows that chaos theory is difficult to grasp, and therefore, forgiving in his grading. Class is optional, though discussions are helpful to attend if you choose not to attend lecture. As a non-science person, I found this class easily accessible and interesting. The final grade is based on participation, grades on the four assignments on four books, the midterm and the final. Generally, an easy way to get a science credit out of the way.
  3. As the previous review says, we read the last three books in less than a month. There is no way to fully understand the concepts (we simply studied for quizes!). although it is still an easy way to get sci/ded, the course is not exciting at all (discussions were almost pointless) if u prefer fascinating classes, don't take this one.
  4. Really fascinating material even for non-science majors. But seriously this class was no good. The lectures were off topic at times (meaning the material discussed was not on the quizzes). Dunham's a really nice guy and quite funny in the nerdy way, but still he expects you to read the books like they were textbooks, and they're 300 pages. good luck with that. Also, we fell behind so we had to read about 900 pages in the last 3 weeks of class and have a quiz on material that we talked about in only 1 or 2 class periods. Absolutely ridiculous. If you like the topic, I'd suggest buying the books and reading them on your own time.
  5. Read the books, they're worth it. Class is optional, but can be interesting.
  6. The most straight-forward class I have taken at Middlebury. You read 5 books and take a quiz on each. You do not have to go to any classes to get a good grade. Just read the books!!!
  7. Great class if you need some space in your schedule. You can do the work whenever you want as long as you get it done before the quizzes. Just be sure to study for them in groups, it makes it easier.
  8. Many aspects to this class were miserable: the lectures, the course content, the somtimes difficult quizzes. However, the bonuses overall outweighed the negatives. Your entire grade is based upon 5 quizzes on 5 books, and for most of the quizzes, Dunham gives you examples of quizzes from past years. Those quizzes were easy, but the ones that didnt have any prior examples were really hard. Basically, you never ever have to go to class (he doesnt take attendance nor does that factor into your grade), but you have to work/study really hard 5 nights for the 5 quizzes. They started out really easy but the last few were pretty hard. I'm not sure if that was just this year, or if Dunham is finally cracking down since Chaos is a campus-wide known joke of a class. Overall though, the lack of work and need for attendance make this class a nice one to add onto your course schedule.
  9. This course was way to large with no teacher/student discussion.
  10. You read five books, and take and exam on each book. They're every 2 1/2 weeks or so, thus there's not much work. However, those exam really sneak up on you.

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