I’ve intentionally put reflection first and data science skills second not necessarily in order of importance but because cultivating data science skills will come automatically—reflection and community-building won’t.
In groups, introduce yourselves with the following prompts: (~2 minutes/person)
When we come back together, you will introduce someone else from your group briefly with:
Navigate to the Course learning goals section of our syllabus.
Part 1: Reflect (~3 min)
Write a few sentences responding to the following questions:
Part 2: Share (~5 min)
At your tables, take turns sharing your responses to the above questions. As a group, summarize your discussion in this Google Doc. Elect 1 person to present this summary when we come together as a class to share.
Grades (final and intermediate letter grades/points) make me uncomfortable because they:
If I had my way, I would never assign letter grades and only give qualitative comments all semester. Unfortunately, I am required to submit a letter grade at the end of the course.
I need your input: which of the following two grading systems should we use for the semester?
Summary: evaluation of learning is done by instructor
| Course component | Letter grade: A | Letter grade: B | Letter grade: C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-reflection in learning process | Show clear growth and consistent thoughtfulness throughout the semester | Show some growth and some thoughtfulness throughout the semester | Show little to no growth and minimal thoughtfulness throughout the semester |
| Self-reflection in collaborative learning (groupwork) | |||
| Weekly homework | Pass all homework assignments | Pass all but 1 homework assignment | Pass all but 2 homework assignments |
| Final project | Complete a project that is high quality in all of the following aspects:
|
Complete a project that is at least ok quality in the aforementioned aspects and high quality in some aspects | Complete a project that is ok quality in the aforementioned aspects |
Summary: evaluation of learning is done by students in conversation with instructor
Main difference: The standards below are the basis for your self-evaluation. I will join in on the conversation after reviewing your work and your self-evaluation. We will assign grades through conversation.
| Course component | Letter grade: A | Letter grade: B | Letter grade: C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-reflection in learning process | Show clear growth and consistent thoughtfulness throughout the semester | Show some growth and some thoughtfulness throughout the semester | Show little to no growth and minimal thoughtfulness throughout the semester |
| Self-reflection in collaborative learning (groupwork) | |||
| Weekly homework | Show strong understanding of concepts across all homework assignments | Show strong understanding of concepts across most homework assignments | Show adequate understanding of concepts across most homework assignments |
| Final project | Complete a project that is high quality in all of the following aspects:
|
Complete a project that is at least ok quality in the aforementioned aspects and high quality in some aspects | Complete a project that is ok quality in the aforementioned aspects |
Navigate to the Grading and feedback section of our syllabus to refer to details of the two grading options as needed.
Part 1: Reflect (~5 min)
Write a few sentences responding to the following questions:
Part 2: Share (~10-15 min)
At your tables, take turns sharing your responses to the above questions. As a group, summarize your discussion in this Google Doc. Elect 1 person to present this summary when we come together as a class to share.
Let’s build your personal website!
File > New Project > New Directory > Quarto Website
personal_website.Some files will get created in the directory, and your newly created website will open in your browser.
Quarto markdown files: The formatting in these files is almost identical to RMarkdown files (e.g., * for italics, ** for bold, # for headers).
index.qmd: This generates the content on the Home page.about.qmd: This generates the content on the About page.Other files:
_quarto.yml: Controls metadata about the website and how it should be builtstyles.css: Controls the visual appearance of the site (e.g., color themes, fonts, spacing)
One of the first questions that comes up in every job interview is a question about yourself: “Tell me about yourself. How did you get to this point? What type of work do you want to do?”
Crafting your homepage and About page can help you prepare for this question and have benefits even before the interview.
Let’s take a look at an approach for crafting a thoughtful about page.
Richard Feynman was a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose contributions fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the physical world.
A major part of his success was a method for viewing the world: a mindset of viewing the world through the lens of several open-ended questions. Feynman called these his “favorite problems.” He said of these problems:
You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, “How did [they] do it? [They] must be a genius!”
Quote source: Forte Labs
Everyone can generate a list of their own 12 favorite problems - a set of meaningful open-ended questions that allow you to learn, explore, and act with intention on your biggest interests in life. Their benefits:
- Dedicate your time and attention to ideas that truly spark your curiosity
- See how a piece of information might be useful and why it’s worth keeping
- See insightful patterns across multiple subjects that seem unrelated, but might share a common thread
- Focus the impact of your work on problems where you can make a real difference
- Prime your subconscious to notice helpful solutions to your biggest challenges in the world around you
- Attract like-minded people who have the same interests and goals as you
Source: Forte Labs
Navigate to this article by Tiago Forte, and scroll down to the first step “Get started with these prompts.”
We’ll take 15-20 minutes to brainstorm our 12 FPs in the about.qmd file of your new website project.
Tiago Forte provides examples of his 12 FPs in his post. Feel free to also look at my own for more examples. (I’m working on updating my 12 FPs today alongside you!)
What does this have to do with data science?? The 12 FP framework is a way of filtering the deluge of information thrown at us to the precious subset that matter most to our deepest questions. In other words, using data of all forms most effectively in our day-to-day lives. I truly believe that adopting this approach will help you become the kinds of data scientists who will be invaluable wherever you go.
In groups, each person will have ~2 minutes to share their top 2 FPs and get some feedback from the group. The group should give feedback to help make the FPs more specific, counterintuitive, and interdiscipinary:
(Examples from Forte Labs)
The remainder of the class period is free time. Some suggestions for spending the time:
styles.css file.To do before class on Thursday:
#general channel.#12-favorite-problems channel on Slack.