Learning to do Science

Consensus in Science

2019-12-03 | Reading time: 1 minute

A great one-page editorial about the issue of consensus in science.
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Recommendation: Steven Pinker: “An Unnecessary Defense of Reason and a Necessary Defense of the University’s Role in Advancing It”

2019-10-16 | Reading time: 1 minute

Steven Pinker's Keynote talk at the 2nd Heterodox Academy Annual Conference in June 2019 is well worth listening to.

Image: Half Hour of Heterodoxy Logo
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Climate Change Activism

2019-10-15 | Reading time: 4 minutes

Some thoughts on Fridays4Future, Students4Future, and Scientist4Future -- and strikes at schools and universities.

Image: Pale Blue Dot.
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The Right Kind of Wrong. Or: Using bad practice just because it’s industry standard.

2019-07-30 | Reading time: 1 minute

What do you do when something is "industry standard", but clearly inferior. Yet, you get into trouble when you do it better, because people don't recognize it as better?
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The best predictor for future behavior is past behavior. — Or: What I wouldn’t give for a good Learning Analytics System

2019-07-30 | Reading time: 3 minutes

It's impressive what you can do with the information about students performance way before they take their final exam. If there just were a good learning analytics system to ... you know, actually use the information. Of course, that would require that student performance was actually something most universities did care about.
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Grading Paper Exams with an iPad

2019-07-28 | Reading time: 1 minute

Turns out you can grade paper exams pretty well with an iPad.
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Regulating citizens to the mean (with an SD of 0)

2019-06-05 | Reading time: 5 minutes

There are currently a few ... interesting developments that cast a deep shadow on future creativity. At least, that how it appears to me. It’s not that the situation is a problem now, but there is a trend, and I don’t like where it leads.
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Necrophilic Teaching

2019-06-05 | Reading time: 1 minute

Teaching dead bodies.
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Great Introduction to R (esp when you come from SPSS or the like)

2019-02-05 | Reading time: Less than a minute

The audio is terrible but Hadley Wickham's presentation gives a very good introduction into R — and why it's better than using a GUI based software like SPSS or Excel.
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Recommendation: The Rubin Report (esp. Dr. Everett Piper Interview)

2019-02-05 | Reading time: 1 minute

Can't say I'm a fan of religious institutions, but Dr. Everett Pipers Interview on "The Rubin Report" is worth watching.
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