Detailed Schedule -- Analyzing Environmental Data

Detailed Schedule -- MONT 103N, Analyzing Environmental Data

Spring 2012, Prof. Little

The following day-by-day listing shows the planned topic for each day's class and the due dates of the larger individual assignments. There will also be several smaller writing assignments (as described in the course syllabus) and group writeups from the group project days. The due dates for those will be announced when the assignments are made. This is a tentative, evolving schedule. Topics may be added, deleted, or rearranged during the course of the semester. Any changes will be announced in class and here. Note: Reading assignments labeled

P -- refer to M. Pollan, The Botany of Desire
LH -- refer to G. Langkamp and J. Hull, Quantitative Reasoning and the Environment
F -- refer to T. Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Date	Class Topic	Reading

1/25	Course Introduction	start reading LH, Chapter 9
1/27	Basics of Logistic Models	LH, Chapter 9
1/30	Fitting a Logistic Model to Data	LH, Chapter 9
2/1	Chaotic behavior of Logistic Models	LH, Chapter 9
2/3	Group Project 1 -- Harvesting and Sustainability	LH, Chapter 9
2/6	Group Project 1, continued	LH, Chapter 9
2/8	Measures of Central Tendency	LH, Chapter 11
2/10	Quantiles, boxplots -- Problem Set 1 due	LH, Chapter 11
2/13	The Shape of A Data Set	LH, Chapter 11
2/15	Electronic Social Media	Turkle, Alone Together, Chapter 8 (download from homepage)
2/17	Follow-up Discussion on Turkle's Talk -- Problem Set 2 due
2/20	Humans and ``Multitasking''	Ophir, Nass, Wagner paper (download from homepage)
2/22	Variance and Standard Deviation of a Data Set	LH, Chapter 12
2/24	z-scores -- ``Connections'' Paper due	LH, Chapter 12
2/27	Chebyshev's Rule, Outliers in Data Sets	LH, Chapter 12
2/29	Normal Curves	LH, Chapter 12
3/2	Group Project 2 -- Sampling -- Problem Set 3 due	LH, Chapter 12
3/5,7,9	Spring Break -- no class	Get a head start on P, Intro and Chapters 1,2,4
3/12	Natural History of Apples	P, Intro and Chapter 1
3/14	Tulips and ``Tulipomania''	P, Chapter 2
3/16	Potatoes and Control -- Final Project ``Proposals'' due	P, Chapter 4
3/19	The Standard Normal	LH, Chapter 13
3/21	Confidence intervals	LH, Chapter 13
3/23	Non-normal Data and Transformations -- Problem set 4 due	LH, Chapter 13
3/26	Group Project 3 -- Taxing Toxics	LH, Chapter 13
3/28	Group Project 3, continued	LH, Chapter 13
3/30	Midterm Exam	LH, Chapters 9,11,12,13; P, Chapters 1,2,4
4/2	Basics of Statistical Inference	Gotelli-Ellison, Primer, Chapter 4 (download from homepage)
4/4	Language and rationale of hypothesis tests	Class notes (download from homepage)
4/6,9	Easter Break -- no class	Class notes
4/11	Large SampleTests on Means, Proportions	Class notes
4/13	p-values Annotated Bibliographies due	Class notes
4/16	Small Sample Tests on Means	Class notes
4/18	Ophir, Nass, Wagner again	Ophir, Nass, Wagner article (download from homepage)
4/20	Spare Day -- Problem Set 5 due	Start reading F
4/23	Hot, Flat, and Crowded	F, Chapters 1,2,8
4/25	Continue ``H, F, and C''	F, Chapters 11,16,17
4/27	CEF's, Wrap up ``H, F, and C''
4/30	Final Project Presentations
5/2	Final Project Presentations
5/4	Final Project Presentations
5/7	Semester Wrap-up -- Final Project Papers due

There will be no final exam this semester.

Last modified: April 17, 2012