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Teaching


Due to COVID-19 all the courses are taught online. Some courses are taught in Polish, so course descriptions, links to lecture videos etc. are also mostly in this language, while slides are almost universally in English. Class schedules (and Zoom invitations) for classes with Rafal Urbaniak are visible in the calendar.
  • Criminological Research Methods with Rafal Urbaniak

    • Final grade:
      • in-class quizzes of equal weights, jointly 45 points (have student no. ready, this includes assigned readings and previous classes).
      • a final test, jointly 35 points.
      • some extra points for questions asked during the semester are available.
      • grades as with percentages in the university regulations:
        • >50: 3
        • >60: 3.5
        • >70: 4
        • >80: 4.5
        • >90: 5
    • so the tests alone can earn you at most a 4. If and only if you earn >70 in the tests, you can decide to proceed with an oral exam worth 20 points total.

    • Exercises: to be used in the tutorials, systematically updated over the semester. The most recent version is available here.

    • Readings: all texts are available in this folder.

    • Schedule Up to midnight the day before the class, if you have any questions, please submit them using this form. When the class begins I assume you have familiarized yourself with the assigned material. If there are any questions to be discussed I start a meeting and discuss them. Otherwise, I am online available for individual meetings, replying in written form to the questions you submitted etc. till 5.15 p.m. At 5.15 p.m. we start a test online, which takes 15-20 minutes. Then I calculate the results and start a very short meeting where I give you the results and explain which answers were correct and why.

      • Class 1: Watch lectures 1.1. - 1.8. Read chapters 1-3 from Weisburd & Britt.
      • Class 2: Watch lectures 2.1. - 2.5. Read chapters 4-5 from Weisburd & Britt.
      • Class 3: Watch lectures 3.1. - 3.3. Read chapters 6-7 from Weisburd & Britt.
      • Class 4: Watch lectures 4.1. - 4.2. Read chapters 8-9 from Weisburd & Britt.
      • Class 5: Watch lectures 5.1. - 5.6. Read chapters 10-11 from Weisburd & Britt.

    • Lectures:
      • Part 1. descriptive statistics and visualization (slides)
      • Part 2. naive probability and the binomial distribution (slides)
        • Lecture 2.1 naive probability (video)
        • Lecture 2.2 overcounting (video)
        • Lecture 2.3 interpretations of probability (video)
        • Lecture 2.4 binomial distribution (video)
        • Lecture 2.5 representation of distributions (video)
      • Part 3. continuous variables (slides)
        • Lecture 3.1 introducing continuity (video)
        • Lecture 3.2 normal distribution (video)
        • Lecture 3.3 examples of reasoning with a normal distribution (video)
      • Part 4. measuring uncertainty (slides)
        • Lecture 4.1 confidence intervals (video)
        • Lecture 4.2 sampling and t-test (video)
      • Part 5. hypothesis evaluation
        • Lecture 5.1 Hot locations & the binomial test (video)
        • Lecture 5.2 Relationship & violence; the chi square (video)
        • Lecture 5.3 Sanction & recidivism (video)
        • Lecture 5.4 Race & cell assignment (video)
        • Lecture 5.5 Testing (video)
        • Lecture 5.6 New prison program (video)
  • Dealing with uncertainty with Rafal Urbaniak

    • Final grade:
      • in-class quizzes of equal weights, jointly 45 points (have student no. ready, this includes assigned readings and previous classes).
      • a final test, jointly 35 points. 
      • grades with points as percentages as in the university regulations:
        • >50: 3
        • >60: 3.5
        • >70: 4
        • >80: 4.5
        • >90: 5
      • so the tests alone can earn you at most a 4. If and only if you earn >70 in the tests, you can decide to proceed with an oral exam worth 20 points total.

    • Exercises: to be used in the tutorials, systematically updated over the semester. The most recent version is available here.

    • Readings: (the folder is available here)
      • Class 1: read chapter 1 from Stanton's book and chapter 1 from Field's book.
      • Class 2: read chapters 1-3 (part I) from Sharon, Bertsch & McGrayne and chapters 2-3 from Stanton.
      • Class 3: read sections 1.1-1.5 from Blitzstein, chapters 4-5 (part II) from Sharon, Bertsch & McGrayne.
      • Class 4: read chapters 2-3 from Stanton's book.
      • Class 5: read section 1.6 and chapter 2 from Blitzstein. 
      • Class 6 read chapter 4 from Stanton.

    • Schedule Up to midnight the day before the class, if you have any questions, please submit them using this form. When the class begins I assume you have familiarized yourself with the assigned material. If there are any questions to be discussed I start a meeting and discuss them. Otherwise, I am online available for individual meetings, replying in written form to the questions you submitted etc. till 3 p.m. At 1.15 p.m. we start a test online, which takes 15-20 minutes. Then I calculate the results and start a very short meeting where I give you the results and explain which answers were correct and why. Here is a breakdown what you need to know for which test (to be updated as we go):

      • Test 1 descriptive statistics (part 1)
      • Test 2 data visualisation (part 2)
      • Test 3 counting and naive probability (part 3)
      • Test 4 simulations and long-run probability, and the first batch of axiomatic probability theory (parts 4 and 5.1-5.3)
      • Test 5 further material in axiomatic probability theory (5.4-5.7)
      • Test 6 probability distributions (part 6)
      • Test 7 sampling distributions and confidence intervals (part 7)
      • Test 8 classical hypothesis testing (part 8) 
  • Formal Logic 2020/2021 with Patryk Dziurosz Serafinowicz
    • The manuscript of the first 9 (out of 18) chapters of Ghastly Logic (in Polish, open access)
  • Philosophy of biology 2020/21 (reading seminar) with Patryk Dziurosz-Serafinowicz 
    • This seminar covers the following themes in the philosophy of biology:
      • Are there laws in biology? Readings:
        1. Beatty, J. H. (1995), ''The Evolutionary Contingency Thesis'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 217-248. 
        2. Sober, E. (1997), ''Two Outbreaks of Lawlessness in Recent Evolutionary Biology'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 249-258.
      • The main features of Darwin's theory of evolution. Readings:
        1. Mayr, E. (2007), What Makes Biology Unique?, Cambridge University Press, chapter 6.
        2. Waters, K. (2003), ''The Arguments in the Origin of Species'', [in:] J. Hodge, G. Radick (eds.), Cambridge Companion to Darwin, Cambridge University Press, pp. 116-139.
        3. Sober, E. (2011), Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin Theory, Prometheus Books, chapter 1.
      • The concept of fitness in evolutionary biology. Readings:
        1. Mills, S.K., Beatty, J. (1979), ''The Propensity Interpretation of Fitness'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 3-24.
        2. Sober, E. (2001), ''The Two Faces of Fitness'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 25-38.
      • Levels of selection in evolutionary biology. Readings:
        1. Okasha, S. (2006), Evolution and the Levels of Selection, Oxford University Press, chapters 2-6.
      • The problem of altruism in evolutionary biology. Readings:
        1. Sober, E., Wilson, D. S. (1998), Unto Others. The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, Harvard University Press, chapters 1-3.
      • The problem of species and the limits of essentialism. Readings:
        1. Mayr, E. (1975), ''Typological versus Population Thinking'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 325-328.
        2. Sober, E. (1980), ''Evolution, Population Thinking, and Essentialism'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 329-359.
      • Mendelian and molecular genetics. Readings:
        1. Kitcher, P. (1984), ''1953 and All That: A Tale of Two Sciences'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 261-282.
        2. Waters, C.K. (1980), ''Why the Antireductionist Consensus Won’t Survive the Case of Classical Mendelian Genetics'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 283-300.
        3. Sober, E. (1999), ''The Multiple Realizability Argument Against Reductionism'', [in:] Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, ed. E. Sober, 2006, MIT Press, pp. 301-322.
  • Philosophy of nature 2020/21 with Patryk Dziurosz-Serafinowicz
    • This course covers the following topics:
      • Darwin's theory of evolution and its development: natural selection, the hypothesis of common ancestry, the modern synthesis and neo-darwinism. (slides)
      • The units of selection problem: levels of selection, theories of group selection, the problem of altruism in evolutionary biology, genetic selectionism. (slides)
      • The problem of species and the nature of systematics: essentialism about species and its limits, phenetics, evolutionary taxonomy, cladistics, phylogenetic inference.
      • The concept of fitness in evolutionary biology: fitness and expectation, fitness and probability, the propensity interpretation of fitness, the tautology problem.
      • Adaptationism and its limits: adaptation, function, optimality, the Hawk-Dove game.
      • Game theory in biology: some basic concepts of game theory, evolutionarily stable strategy, signaling games.
            

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