Early humans built stone tools by breaking rocks. Cracks in polar ice caps affect global climate. From the Japanese art of Kintsugi to planned obsolescence of household appliances, human effort to prevent, repair, induce, and exploit fracture has shaped our world. In this course, we will explore the poetic and practical nature of fracture across nature, science, and culture.
We explore the tutorial topic together in a small‐group, discussion‐intensive setting. The goal of the course is to focus on how to ask good questions, think critically, write clearly, read thoughtfully, and communicate your ideas with confidence.
Grinnell College Tutorial Learning Objectives:
You’ll also begin planning your own liberal arts journey at Grinnell through our one‐on‐one advising conversations. As your tutorial instructor, I will also be your academic advisor for the first two years or until you choose a major and subsequently choose a new permanent advisor within your major department. I will get to know your interests and strengths from the very start, supporting you as you make the most of your time here. I will serve to:
| Class time | Classroom |
|---|---|
| T/Th 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM | Noyce 3821 |
| Name: | Debdeep Bhattacharya (bhattacharya@grinnell.edu) |
| I go by: | Dr. Bhattacharya or Prof. Bhattacharya (he/him/his) |
| Office: | Noyce 2219 |
Office hours:
Textbooks:
A digital copy of the resources above is available for free through the Grinnell Libraries.
| Count | Week | Date | Day | Skills | Topic | Assigned | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Aug 27 | Th | Introduction | |||
| 2 | 2 | Sep 01 | T | Liberal Arts | Science of solids | W1 | |
| 3 | 2 | Sep 03 | Th | Strength and failure of materials | |||
| 4 | 3 | Sep 08 | T | Academic Honesty | Discovery of stone tools | W1 | |
| 5 | 3 | Sep 10 | Th | Flintknapping | W2 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Sep 15 | T | Demonstration by guest visitor | |||
| 7 | 4 | Sep 17 | Th | Earthquakes and rock fracture | W2 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Sep 22 | T | CLS Resources | |||
| 9 | 5 | Sep 24 | Th | Fracture in sea-ice | W3 | ||
| 10 | 6 | Sep 29 | T | Library | Library Resources | ||
| 11 | 6 | Oct 01 | Th | CERA visit | W3 | ||
| 12 | 7 | Oct 06 | T | Biocomposites | |||
| 13 | 7 | Oct 08 | Th | Plant and animal tissue | P1 | ||
| 14 | 8 | Oct 13 | T | Bioceramics | |||
| 15 | 8 | Oct 15 | Th | Majors in Grinnell | Presentation-1 | P1 | |
| 15 | 9 | Oct 20 | T | Fall Break | |||
| 15 | 9 | Oct 22 | Th | Fall Break | |||
| 16 | 10 | Oct 27 | T | Buildings in ancient world | |||
| 17 | 10 | Oct 29 | Th | Prince Rupert’s drop | W4 | ||
| 18 | 11 | Nov 03 | T | Advising | |||
| 19 | 11 | Nov 05 | Th | Advising | W4 | ||
| 20 | 12 | Nov 10 | T | Kintsugi | |||
| 21 | 12 | Nov 12 | Th | Research | Sociological aspects of repair | W5 | |
| 22 | 13 | Nov 17 | T | Mathematics of fracture | |||
| 23 | 13 | Nov 19 | Th | Wilson Center Address | W5 | ||
| 24 | 14 | Nov 24 | T | Planned obsolescence | W6 | ||
| 24 | 14 | Nov 26 | Th | Thanksgiving | |||
| 25 | 15 | Dec 01 | T | Fracture in medicine | |||
| 26 | 15 | Dec 03 | Th | Peer feedback | W6-draft | ||
| 27 | 16 | Dec 08 | T | Presentation | Presentation-2 | P2 | |
| 28 | 16 | Dec 10 | Th | Presentation-2 | P2, W6 |
| Assessment | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Reading | 10 |
| Engagement | 20 |
| Presentation | 30 |
| Writing | 40 |
Percentage to letter grade conversion table:
| Percentage Range | Letter Grade |
|---|---|
| 93 - 100 | A |
| 90 - 92 | A‑ |
| 87 - 89 | B+ |
| 83 - 86 | B |
| 80 - 82 | B‑ |
| 77 - 79 | C+ |
| 70 - 76 | C |
| < 70 | D |
You are expected to read assigned material and typically complete a pre-worksheet before every class. The worksheets will be assigned at least a day before they are due.
Engagement points will be given for regular attendance and for participating in in-class learning activities.
If you miss more than two classes, then you should expect your engagement score to decline. Documented illnesses/emergencies and university-approved travel are exceptions to this rule. If you are missing more than a week of classes for whatever reason, then please reach out to me so we can come up with a plan to make sure you don’t fall behind.
You will be assigned six writing assignments throughout the course. For the final assignment, you will receive feedback from your peers on your draft and improve it. Scores on the writing assignments will be determined by a rubric provided with each assignment.
A 20-minute presentation at the end of the course is due from each student.
Encouraged for learning, but discouraged for distracting yourself or others! As a matter of courtesy, please turn off or silence cell phones and other communication and entertainment devices prior to the beginning of class. Please respect your fellow students by not using any of them in a way that is distracting or counterproductive to class.
Unless there is documented emergency communicated to me before the deadline, extensions to writing assignments will not be granted. Instead, the lowest assignment score will be dropped.
You are allowed to make up assessments in advance only for officially sanctioned college activities, government obligations, or religious obligations. Please contact me at least one week in advance of any such events with appropriate documentation.
If there are extenuating circumstances, please contact me in a timely manner to discuss alternatives. If the situation is one that can be documented, you may be asked to provide documentation.
Any work turned in for this course must be free from AI-generated content.
Grinnell College makes reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Students with disabilities partner with the Office of Disability Resources to make academic accommodation letters available to faculty via the accommodation portal. To help ensure that your access needs are met, I encourage individual students to approach me so we can have a discussion about your distinctive learning needs and accommodations within the context of this course. If you have not already worked with the Office of Disability Resources and believe you may require academic accommodations for this course, Disability Resources staff can be reached via email at access@grinnell.edu, by phone 641-269-3089, or by stopping by their offices on the first floor of Steiner Hall.
I encourage students who plan to observe holy days that coincide with class meetings or assignment due dates to consult with me in the first three weeks of classes so that we may reach a mutual understanding of how you can meet the terms of your religious observance and also the requirements for this course.
If you have other needs not addressed above, please let me know soon so that we can work together for the best possible learning environment. In some cases, I will recommend consulting with the Academic Advising staff. They are an excellent resource for developing strategies for academic success and can connect you with other campus resources. If I notice that you are encountering difficulty, and I have reached out to you and not received a response, or if you have missed multiple class sessions or are not meeting our class objectives repeatedly, I will submit an academic alert via Academic Advising’s SAL portal. This notifies you of my concern, along with the Academic Advising team and your advisor(s), so that they can reach out to you with additional offers of support.
Grinnell College is committed to compliance with Title IX and to supporting the academic success of pregnant and parenting students and students with pregnancy related conditions. If you are a pregnant student, have pregnancy related conditions, or are a parenting student (child under one-year needs documented medical care) who wishes to request reasonable related supportive measures from the College under Title IX, please email the Title IX Coordinator at titleix@grinnell.edu. The Title IX Coordinator will work with Disability Resources and your professors to provide reasonable supportive measures in support of your education while pregnant or as a parent under Title IX.
This syllabus is meant to serve as an outline and guide for our course. Please note that I may modify it with reasonable notice to you. I may also modify the Course Schedule to accommodate the needs of our class. Any changes will be announced in class and posted on Canvas.