Duration
10h Th, 5h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in biology of organisms and ecology (120 ECTS) | 3 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Course begins by an introduction to the scientific method, with its different sides. It continues with the analysis of the different ways we can be fooled (such as biases linked to the way the brain works or induced by the words and images used), and how to prevent them. It finishes by the definition of pseudodcience and the analysis of some cases.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Aim is to initiate students to critical reasoning and to make them able to analyze things by themselves, in their daily life as well as in their professional life, to avoid biases and being fooled.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course will be in two parts, a theoretical one and a practical one. The first one is performed via a multimedia presentation, with many interactions (to avoid any misunderstandings). The second one consists in applying what was seen previously to actual cases.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
face-to-face, 5 courses of 2h and 2 TP of 2h30
Recommended or required readings
Notes and bibliography will be provided.
Assessment methods and criteria
Grade is attributed on the basis of a workshop report (30%), a written report on the personal work (40%), an oral presentation of the work with questions related to the course (30%).
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The theme of the personal work will be chosen after discussion with the teacher. It can be a personal idea or be chosen amongst proposed themes. It consists in the analysis of a phenomenon (e.g. a research linked to memory, a specific pseudoscience) which was the subject of at least one peer-reviewed scientific publication. The report on this work should have a presentation (hypotheses, claims,...) and a critical discussion of the publications analyzing it. Depending on the number of students, this work can be done individually (10p of text 12pt in A4 format, presentation of 10min maximum) or in groups of up to 4 students (size of report and length of presentation are then increased by 50%).
Contacts
Yaël Nazé, 04 366 97 20, office 2/12 in Bat B5C (Astrophysique et Géophysique), naze@astro.ulg.ac.be