Topic outline
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For the first time, this year the course will be taught in English. Unfortunately, the textbook is in Italian, but the classes will be videorecorded and made available on YouTube, so that the students will be able to prepare for exams without using the book.
Aims of the course
The scientific method and its applications in biology. 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.
The course will begin on Tuesday, October 4, 2022. Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4 pm - 6 pm, in the Serra 2 classroom.
For further information, please write to marco.crescenzi@iss.it Please, do not use the uniroma1 address, as that mailbox is checked infrequently.
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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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Marco Crescenzi
Metodologia della ricerca scientifica per la biologia cellulare e molecolare (2a edizione)
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Follow the link below for PowerPoint presentations
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Follow the link below for class videorecords
Lesson 1, accidentally, was not recorded