This course focus in theoretical and practical aspects of doing science. In particular we learn how to design good experiments that can create high-impact knowledge.
This will be a very practical course, in the understanding that there is nothing more practical than a good theory.
Classes
Here you will find the slides from the classes and other supplementary material. Notice that some things are said but not written, so you better take good notes. We recommend taking notes with pen and paper using the Cornell Method.
- Class 1: Why? How?. (Feb 18, 2022).
[Slides].
What is the scientific method? Why do we care? How can we do better science? - Class 1.1: Where is the Truth?. (Feb 18,
2022). [Slides].
How do we know what we know. - Class 2: Reproducibility crisis. (Feb 25,
2022). [Slides].
Why everybody should learn some math. - Class 3: What is Science?. (Mar 3, 2022).
[Slides].
What is the scientific method? Why do we care? How can we do better science? - Class 3.1: How do we observe. (Mar 3,
2022). [Slides].
What is “Data”? - Class 3.2: Orders of magnitude. (Mar 3,
2022). [Slides].
Guessing correctly - Class 4.2: Four Paradigms of Science, according to Microsoft
Research. (Mar 10, 2022). [Slides].
Science changes when we get better tools. - Class 5: Divide and conquer. (Mar 17,
2022). [Slides].
Enrico Fermi’s method. - Class 5.1: Error propagation. (Mar 17,
2022). [Slides].
Handling uncertainty. - Class 5.2: Significant Figures. (Mar 17,
2022). [Slides].
Being honest about uncertainty. - Class 6: Statistical uncertainty. (Mar 24,
2022). [Slides].
Noise. - Class 7: Structured Documents. (Mar 24,
2022). [Slides].
Telling your message. - Class 7.1: Writing Structured Documents. (Mar
31, 2022). [Slides].
Telling your message. - Class 7.2: The ancient art. (Mar 31,
2022). [Slides].
Telling your message. - Class 9: Sampling and population. (Apr 21,
2022). [Slides].
Telling your message. - Class 12: Project Management. (May 12,
2022). [Slides].
Managing time is managing yourself. How can you be a leader if you do not lead yourself? - Class 14: Time Management. (Jun 2, 2022).
[Slides].
Managing time is managing yourself. How can you be a leader if you do not lead yourself?
Plan
- The Scientific method
- How do we measure things
- counting
- measuring is comparing to a reference
- measurements are numbers with units
- estimating the order of magnitude
- margin of error
- error propagation
- How to design a good experiment: Analyze before doing the
experiment
- See what are the important variables
- See what are the error sources
- See if the experiment can really answer your question