Section outline

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    General

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    The scientific method and applications in biology

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    General Information

    Classes are presented in english if there is at least one student that is not an italian-speaker. Students are encouraged to follow in presence and are actively involved during classes. Slides and videorecordings will be made available, so that it will be possible to prepare for exams. The book, (to be used at one's discretion) is available through this site (https://www.marcocrescenzi.it/index.php?view=category&id=29).


    Aims of the course

    The scientific method and its applications in biology (SMAB). Epistemological foundations of science, conceptual and experimental approaches in biology. The course focuses on scientific reasoning and its countless shapes and applications, rather than the transmission of notions. The students will be introduced to select scientific papers and requested to comment and discuss them, with the goal of fostering their scientific reasoning capabilities. Classroom discussions are key teaching instruments in this course.

    Academic year 2024-205 course began on Friday, September 27, 2024. Classes will be held on Tuesdays 14:00-16:00 and Friday 9:00-11:00, in the Aula 5 room, via dei Marsi 78.

    For further information, please write to franco.cardone@uniroma1.it.


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    Program

    The program of the course is the Table of Contents of the textbook. Here below the chapters are presented in both Italian and English.


    PARTE PRIMA - LE BASI FILOSOFICHE  -  1. PHILOSOPHICAL BASES

    Come progredisce la scienza?  -  How does science progress?

    Elementi di epistemologia  -  Elements of epistemology

    Nomenclatura -  Nomenclature

     

    PARTE SECONDA - BASI METODOLOGICHE FONDAMENTALI  -  2. FUNDAMENTALS OF METHODOLOGY

    Basi fondamentali dell’esperimento scientifico -  Fundamentals of the scientific experiment

    Isolare la variabile allo studio  -  Isolating the variabile under study

    Controlli positivi e negativi  -  Positive and negative controls

    Ridondanza di evidenza  -  Redundant evidence

    Osservazioni, correlazioni, rapporto di causa-effetto  -  Observations, correlations cause-and-effect relationship

    Eventi rari o sfuggevoli  -  Rare or elusive events

    Screening

    Misurazioni e misure  -  Measurements and measures

    Strumenti di misurazione  -  Measuring instruments

    Statistica  -  Statistics

    Esperimenti di ricostruzione  -  Reconstruction experiments

     

    PARTE TERZA - LA COSTRUZIONE DI UN PROGETTO DI RICERCA  -  3. DEVELOPING A RESEARCH PROJECT

    La domanda  -  The question

    Approccio sperimentale  -  The experimental approach

    Progettazione degli esperimenti e interpretazione dei risultati  -  Designing the experiments and interpreting their results

    Un progetto di ricerca  -  A research project

     

    PARTE QUARTA - LA RICERCA IN PRATICA: ALCUNI ASPETTI  -  4. SCIENCE IN PRACTICE: SOME ASPECTS

    Etica della ricerca  -  The ethics of scientific research

    La scienza pubblicata  -  Science as published

    Leggere  -  Reading

    Vita di laboratorio  -  Laboratory life

    Quaderni di laboratorio  -  Laboratory notebooks

     

    Il corso si conclude con una lezione dedicata all’orientamento pre- e post-laurea dello studente. Questa lezione non è oggetto di esame.

    The course ends with a lesson aimed to orient the students in the early years of their career, before and after obtaining their degree. This lesson will not be part of the final exam.


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    Textbook

    Marco Crescenzi

    Metodologia della ricerca scientifica per la biologia cellulare e molecolare (2a edizione)

    Disponibile su Amazon.it  -  Available on Amazon.it

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    PowerPoint presentations

    Follow the link below for PowerPoint presentations

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    Class videorecords

    Follow the link below for class videorecords


    Lesson 1, accidentally, was not recorded