Science-Based Comparative Culture: A New Theme of Experiment for Freshmen in Tohoku University

In 2004, Tohoku University created a new introductory science experimental course for freshmen. The course is a compulsory subject for students in all natural science fields. The course is not designed for a professional education, but as a liberal education, in which students are trained to become familiar with nature and to discover natural laws for themselves. We present here one of 12 themes - "science and culture: vibration of string instrument and music", in which we expect students to study two aspects: 1) the universality of natural laws and 2) the variety of value judgments from the evidence.