Other pages: Bio/Geo/CS250, MainModelingWiki
1. Generalities
What this course is not
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A how-to course in how to make models (though we'll be making a lot of models)
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A science (or social-science) course. You (collectively) already know whatever science we discuss.
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A philosophy course (though we'll be philosophizing a lot)
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A programming course (though we'll be programming more than we'll be doing anything else)
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A well-thought-out course (yet)
What this course is
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An opportunity to practice making models
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An exercise in collaborative work
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A series of exercises in just-in-time learning
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An experiment in teaching
2. Specifics
2.1. Logistics
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Wiki (HelpForBeginners)
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Course schedule
![[WWW]](/wiki/classic/img/moin-www.png){kind=small}
Edventure2.2. Course participants
2.3. Ongoing tasks
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Think about scientific questions one (you?) could answer
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Contribute models or primary-literature articles about models (You must contribute at least one.)
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Contribute to the ModelingCourseSuggestions page
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Watch the MainModelingWiki for questions, discussions, suggested readings and web sites.
2.4. Occasional tasks
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Lead a discussion on a modeling task which your group has been working on
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Explain your solution to a modeling task (i.e., microproject)
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Take notes on a class discussion and post them as a Wiki page
2.5. Graded tasks
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10 modeling microprojects
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One collaborative modeling miniproject (Form groups this week!)
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Participate in discussions, critiques, etc.
3. Warm-up discussion: Theory
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Why are shopping carts so big?
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Theories about other things
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Models: what theories are made of
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Readings for next time
