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How Siddhant found a #CourseToSuccess in Data Science

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How Siddhant found a #CourseToSuccess in Data Science

Siddhant is an avid learner on Coursera who found his #CourseToSuccess in data science with the Genomic Data Science and Bioinformatics Specializations. He’s studying in a dual degree program in Information Technology at the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Gwalior, India.

“I got into two summer internships and received a job offer for a data scientist role by sharing my Coursera certificates.”

I was introduced to Coursera by my older brother, who was doing his undergrad in Aerospace Engineering at the time. I was a freshman at my college starting out with introductory level courses in engineering, mathematics, physics, and computer science. I told him I wanted to learn to how to program in Python. He suggested to look for those courses on Coursera and to look into the field of data science and machine learning since they are important growth areas.

The first course that I enrolled in was Programming for Everybody (Getting Started With Python) from the University of Michigan. The content was simply outstanding — the lecture videos and programming assignments covered the material in breadth as well as depth. I became hooked on Coursera, and took one course after another. After I learned Python, I took computer science courses rlike Automata and Algorithms: Design and Analysis with Stanford. Next, I moved over to machine learning and data science courses.

Before college, I was interested in understanding how to use computational methods to solve biological problems. I decided to explore topics like bioinformatics and genomic data science. The Bioinformatics Specialization by UC San Diego is an excellent program that covers algorithmic ways to solve biological problems. The Genomic Data Science Specialization by John Hopkins focused on the use of tools and pipelines to analyze biological data and make inferences, which I found very interesting.

After I was done with the two Specializations, I applied to a summer internship program at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) in Bangalore in 2016.

With the Genomic Data Science Specialization certificate mentioned on my CV, I was instantly selected for the position despite having majored in IT.

At IBAB, I worked to establish a pipeline for data cleaning to support cross-experiment microarray data analysis. I learned about this through one of my Specializations and it was great to apply that knowledge to my internship work.

I am now at the top of my cohort in the institute, thanks to my computer science knowledge. I’m well-informed of the latest research that is going on in the field of deep learning. All this is possible thanks to what I learned through Coursera. Best of all, I earned two summer internships and a job offer for a data scientist role solely on the basis of my Coursera certificates.

My courses on Coursera helped me decide to work towards becoming an AI researcher. I plan to continue taking courses and to apply for a PhD program, where I’ll research the latest deep learning models and their application in Natural Language Processing.

 

Forgetting to Remember

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Forgetting to Remember

Another explanation for how and why we forget has been in terms of disuse or decay (2, 3). Sometimes we forget things simply because we haven’t remembered it in awhile. For example, you can probably remember what you had for lunch yesterday. How about last week? Last month? Unless there was a reason for you to recall the contents of your lunch, you likely forgot it over time. Assuming that you have not had any reason to recall your lunch, you are most likely forgetting past lunches due to decay and not interference.

So how can forgetting – whether it’s caused by interference or decay – help us remember? Let’s take the simple example of remembering where you parked your car. You go out to the parking lot or garage and instead of sifting through a few ideas from today or last week about where you parked your car, you suddenly remember where you parked last Wednesday and Tuesday from 3 weeks ago, and the hundreds of other times you have parked your car. Some of these locations and memories may be helpful to you at present, but many are not.

Forgetting helps us be selective, strategic, about remembering. We don’t get overwhelmed with ALL of the possible information when we try to remember something because our memory system uses certain tricks and hints to help us remember certain things and forget others. We remember certain bits and pieces of information over others based on context, frequency, and recency. Things that we have had to remember frequently and most often typically come to mind much more easily. This also means that things we haven’t needed to remember frequently or recently don’t come to mind as easily.

Forgetting can be frustrating. But it’s the flip side to remembering. Forgetting helps you remember by presenting you with fewer options. Most of the memory strategies that we talk about can also be framed in terms of forgetting strategies. Practicing retrieval of certain information helps you recall that information and forget other information (4). Spacing and interleaving take advantage of difficulty of retrieving information, or potential forgetting, to improve memory (5, 6).

All of this is to say – don’t be discouraged or hard on yourself when you forget something. Forgetting is actually a very useful part of your memory!

  1. Underwood, B. J. (1957). Interference and forgetting. Psychological review, 64(1), 49.

  2. McGeoch, J.A. (1932). Forgetting and the law of disuse. Psychological Review. 39 (4): 352–370.

  3. Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (1992). A new theory of disuse and an old theory of stimulus fluctuation. In A. Healy, S. Kosslyn, & R. Shiffrin (Eds.), From learning processes to cognitive processes: Essays in honor of William K. Estes (Vol. 2, pp. 35-67). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

  4. Anderson, M. C., Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (1994). Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrieval dynamics in long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 1063-1087.

  5. Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe & A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  6. Mc Daniel, M. A., & Butler, A. C. (2011). A contextual framework for understanding when difficulties are desirable. In Successful Remembering and Successful Forgetting: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert A. Bjork (pp. 175-198). Taylor and Francis.

Weekly Digest #134: How to Sleep Well

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Weekly Digest #134: How to Sleep Well

4) Ask A Sleep Doctor: The Questions That Keep You Up At Night, a podcast with W. Christopher Winter, author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It 

Science Friday Q&A with neurologist and sleep expert. Listeners call in to ask their questions about sleep.

5) I Fixed My Terrible Sleeping Habits with Science, by Grant Stoddard

After reading of this man’s impressive success in changing his sleep habits, one is left wondering how long the new habits stuck.

THANK YOU to our guest bloggers from 2017!

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THANK YOU to our guest bloggers from 2017!

We’re right in the middle of a season where a lot of us are giving thanks and reflecting on the year we have had. For some of us it is because of American or Canadian Thanksgiving, Japanese Labour Thanksgiving, or Turkish National Day of Thanks, or upcoming holidays such as Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa. For some of us, it is simply because the year is coming to a close and we are getting ready to celebrate a new year. In light of this, we wanted to take a moment (or, a blog post!) to thank the guest bloggers who generously donated their time to make this blog such a success in its second year.

In chronological order of first post, we would like to thank the following people who contributed guest blogs in 2017:

Blake Harvard, a high school AP Psychology teacher at James Clemens High School in Madison, AL., who contributed posts on Ignorance Isn’t Bliss – It’s Bias and Disconnect in the Classroom. 

Dr. Amber Walraven, is an Assistant Professor at the Radboud Graduate School of Education (Radboud Docenten Academie), who contributed a post on Teaching Teachers That Research Matters.

Dawn Cox, a secondary teacher in Essex, England, who contributed a post on Strategies for Effective Learning.

Dr. Logan Fiorella, an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Georgia, who contributed a post on Multimedia Learning.

Samuel Sumeracki, staff at the School of Professional Studies at Brown University and a strategic communication expert, who contributed a post on Learning About Current Events and the role of social media in it.

Ashley Bazin, a student at Rhode Island College majoring in psychology and minoring in French, who contributed a post outlining her implemetation of effective learning strategies in tutoring.

Mary Kathryn Cancilliere, a clinical psychology graduate student at the University of Rhode Island, who contributed a post on Attention.

Sarah Lummis, a Psychology major at Goucher College, who contributed a post on Stereotype Thread.

Alyssa DeYesso, a student at University of Massachusetts at Lowell studying Psychology, Disability, and Education, who contributed a weekly digest on Tools for Neurodivergent Brains.

Ray Newins, a Psychology and Criminal Justice major at Washburn University, and is the Program Manager at the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka Indian Creek Location, who contributed a post on brain training and whether it works.

Ulrich Boser, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, who we interviewed about writing, science, and science communication.

Naomi Hennah, a Teacher of Science/Chemistry at Northampton School for Boys, who contributed a 2-part gues blog post on Putting the Learning Scientists’ Work into Practice (Part 1 and Part 2).

Leila Viss, a user of innovative, tech-savvy lesson plans to develop lifetime pianists at her independent, creative-based piano studio, who contributed a post on research-based Practice Strategies for Musicians.

Dr. Sara Fulmer, the Teaching and Learning Assessment Specialist at Wellesley College, who contributed posts on Manipulatives and why they can hinder learning and on sharing learning outcomes with students as well as a weekly digest on Preparing a Learning-Focused Syllabus.

Josh Kurzweil, is an expert in experiential learning, reflective practice, and instructional design, who contributed a post on Supporting Science of Learning in the Language Classroom.

Dr. Stacey R. Finkelstein, an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Zicklin College of Business, Baruch College, City University New York, who contributed a post on SMART Feedback.

Bella Abdurachmanov, a writing instructor and educational writer, who contributed a post on How to Think about Thinking – Metacognition in the Classroom.

Brianna V. Poole, is a graduate from Rhode Island College, who contributed a post on exam study tips.

Oliver Caviglioli, a former special-school head of many years, who later on in his career turned to visualization, who contributed a post on Dual Coding to Support Inclusion.

Danielle E. Jennings, received her B.S. in developmental psychology from Plymouth State University ’16, and is a master’s student in psychology at Rhode Island College, who contributed a post on the role of smell for memory.

Jessica Mokler, graduated Cum Laude from Rhode Island College in May, where she majored in psychology, who contributed A Student’s Guide to Conquering Exams.

Dr. Althea Kaminske, an Assistant Professor at St. Bonaventure University and now one of the Learning Scientists, too, who contributed posts on Two Examples Are Better Than One and a post on Technology in the Classroom.

Tim van der Zee, has a position funded by CEL (Centre of Education and Learning) in the Netherlands, a collaboration between the universities of Leiden, Delft, and Rotterdam, who contributed posts on Guidelines for Designing Edcuational Videos and Why You Should Be a Sceptical Science Consumer.

Jemma Sherwood, is a Head of Mathematics in a Secondary School in England, who contributed a post on Building Effective Learning Strategies into a Mathematics Curriculum.

Dr. Ian Kelleher, the co-author of Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education, who contributed a post on How to Shift a School Towards Better Homework.

Dr. Marianne Fallon, an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at Central Connecticut State University and has taught undergraduate Research Methods (among other things) for over 10 years, who contributed a post on WOOP – a self-regulation strategy and a post on Putting the Six Strategies for Effective Learning Into Practice.

Dr. Virginia Clinton, an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations and Research at the University of North Dakota, who contributed a post on Elaborative Interrogation.

Holly Shapiro, the Founder and Director of Ravinia Reading Center, the only reading clinic on Earth owned and staffed entirely by speech-language pathologists, who contributed a post on her Journey from Mayhem to Morphology.

Prof Annette Taylor, has been a member of the USD faculty since 1990. She teaches courses in introductory psychology, research methods and cognitive psychology, who contributed a post on How to Help Students Overcome Misconceptions.

Dr. Debra G. Holzberg, a visiting professor and research associate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who contributed a post on Postsecondary Transition for Students with Disabilities.

Rich James, a Human Resources Program Coordinator, for Columbus State Community College, who has specialized in faculty development and workplace learning, who contributed a post on What Does It Take for Students to Exchange Bad Study Habits for Good.

Chris Hilliard, the Second in Science and Associate Assistant Principle at Halewood Academy in Knowsley, England, and his colleague Tom Gilbertson, who contributed a post on Integrating Effective Strategies for Learning into a School Curriculum.

Dr. Lauren Bellaera, Director of Research and Impact at The Brilliant Club, a charity that aims to increase the number of pupils from under-represented backgrounds who progress to highly-selective universities, who contributed a post on How to Develop Critical Thinking.

Dr. Lucy Erickson, a Science and Technology Policy Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF), who contributed posts on Background Noise and Classroom Design, Visual “Noise“, Distractibility, and Classroom Design, Technology, Distractibilty, and the Classroom, and Language about Ability, Mindset, and Motivation and Performance.

Dr. Andrew Butler, an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, who contributed a post on Multiple-Choice Testing.

Tricia Taylor, a former teacher and lead practitioner in schools in London, UK and Brooklyn, who contributed a post on Exploring Retrieval Practice with Younger Students.

Wendee White, a Lecturer in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Dundee, Scotland, who contributed a post on The Relationship between Affect and Cognition in Teaching and Learning.

Miko M. Wilford, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, who contributed a post on The Dark Side of Interleaving.

Dr. Peter Verkoeijen, an Associate Professor in educational psychology at the Department of Education, Psychology, and Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is also professor of applied sciences in the Brain and Learning research group at Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda. Dr. Anton den Boer, a Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Avans University of Applied Sciences. He is also chairman of first-year education committee. They contributed a post on Cumulative Compensatory Assessment in Engineering Education.

Dr Melissa Swisher, a Lecturer in Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, who contributed a post on Equivalence-based Instruction in the Classroom.

Weekly Digest #133: Technology for Math Learning

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Weekly Digest #133: Technology for Math Learning

Josh has created a number of free mathematics lesson apps for middle school based on the science of learning. Guzinta Math lesson apps can be used at school, at home, or both. They include video instruction, interactive modules, worked examples, instructor notes, and–the key–a design which provides retrieval practice, and monitors students’ practice so that they revisit material after calculated delays.

Spaced Practice for Skill Learning

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Spaced Practice for Skill Learning

By Cindy Nebel

Psychologists often breakdown memory into different types. Long-term memory can be divided into two different types: explicit memories and implicit memories. Explicit memories are memories for events and facts. They are memories that we can easily think and talk about. Implicit memories are a bit different. Implicit memories include procedural (muscle) memories as well as some other types of automatic processing.

The primary focus of most of the things on our site is the acquisition and retention of factual information, which would fall into the explicit memory category. When we talk about spaced practice, we often talk about studying in small sessions over the course of time instead of studying in one long session.

Sometimes when we talk about the six strategies for effective learning, we get a little push-back from educators who state that they don’t want their students to simply memorize information, but to understand it. Thankfully, the six strategies do promote understanding. We also sometimes hear that we are talking about learning facts, but that is not useful in other areas, such as art. But again, we’ve talked about the usefulness of the strategies in lots of other subjects (and even for dressage!).

Today I want to talk a little bit more about how we can use one of the strategies, spaced practice, to improve learning of implicit memories – of skills. While teaching a course on Learning last week, I told the students about a classic study showing that spacing works not only for explicit learning, but also for skill learning. Here is that study:

Baddeley and Longman (1) trained postal workers on a new typing task that sorted mail. At the time, this was a very practical matter. Going from hand sorting to mechanical sorting would require training up to 10,000 new postal workers, so doing this in the most efficient way was key. They started out by training 72 workers in sessions that were either 1 or 2 hours long, either 1 or 2 times/day until all of the groups had worked on the training for 60 hours. So the group who training for 1 hour 1 time/day had trained for 60 days, but the group that trained for 2 hours 2 times/day had only trained for 12 days. Note that each group received the same amount of training and that they were paid the same amount to do that training.

Below, you can see the results of part of that study. This shows the number of hours that it took for each group to learn the new typing skill. Those that practiced for 1 hour once/day took considerably fewer hours to learn the new skill than did those who practiced for 2 hours twice/day. In fact, the fastest person in the latter group took 2 hours longer than the slowest person in the former group.

Reaching Through the Wall

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Reaching Through the Wall

Note for Teachers: Join our Feb. 6 free webinar on teaching with New York Times-inspired writing prompts. Sign up here.

_________

What story could this image tell?

Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this illustration.

Post it in the comments, then read the related article to find out what this image is all about.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.

Word + Quiz: savant

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Word + Quiz: savant

Note: Our Sixth Annual 15-Second Vocabulary Video Challenge is underway. It will run until Feb. 18.

: someone who has been admitted to membership in a scholarly field

_________

The word savant has appeared in 59 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 9 in “Train Your Brain Like a Memory Champion” by Bryan Clark:

In training like a memory champion, it’s really the visual that’s most important. Each technique we covered capitalizes on the ability to visualize memories rather than simply attempting to recall them. This, as our team of experts notes, is an exercise in futility.

There’s nothing, physiologically speaking, separating memory athletes from people who forget where their keys are or can’t remember what they had for breakfast this morning. The difference is in the training methods, and the time spent in mastering them.

“Overall, I’d say you definitely don’t need to be a savant to have a great memory,” Mr. Mullen said. “If you’re sincerely engaged with a few tricks up your sleeve, you might surprise yourself.”

Weekly News Quiz for Students: Venezuela, Peace Deal, Oscar Nominations

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Weekly News Quiz for Students: Venezuela, Peace Deal, Oscar Nominations

How well did you follow the news this past week? How many of these 10 questions can you get right?

Will You Be Watching the Super Bowl This Year?

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Will You Be Watching the Super Bowl This Year?

Note for Teachers: Join our Feb. 6 free webinar on teaching with New York Times-inspired writing prompts. Sign up here.

_________

Are you a football fan? Will you be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday?

If you are a fan, who do you think will win? Why?

If you’re not, is there anything you enjoy about Super Bowl Sunday, whether it’s the Puppy Bowl, the halftime show, the advertisements or even just the snacks?

In “Super Bowl LIII Will Have a Young Coach, an Old Coach and a Lot of Things in Between,” Victor Mather writes about the story lines for Sunday’s game. Here are some of them:

Not every Super Bowl is super, and we’ll find out if this year’s edition fits the tag on Feb. 3. But we do know some of what is in store.

One of those things is (no surprise) the New England Patriots, who will be appearing in their third consecutive Super Bowl and fourth in five years. The Rams will be the first team to represent Los Angeles in the game since 1984.

Those are not the only records and oddities about Super Bowl LIII.

Game of Ages

Sean McVay, who took over the Rams last season after a meteoric rise as an N.F.L. assistant, turns 33 this week, which will make him the youngest head coach in Super Bowl history. He breaks the record held by Mike Tomlin, who was 36 when his Pittsburgh Steelers won the big game in 2009.

At 66, Bill Belichick will not be the oldest Super Bowl coach, as Marv Levy went to the game with the Bills at age 67 and 68. But Belichick could become the oldest winner, breaking the record held by Tom Coughlin, who was 65 when the Giants beat the Patriots in 2012.

Game of Ages II

Tom Brady is 41 and will become the oldest Super Bowl starting quarterback. He breaks the record set by, well, Tom Brady last year.

At 24, Jared Goff is not the youngest Super Bowl starter, but he’s not far off. Dan Marino was the youngest, at 23 years 127 days, and Ben Roethlisberger was just behind him at 23 years 340 days.

By the Number

The Roman numerals have reached LIII, or 53. You could also call it Super Bowl 110101 if you prefer binary numbers or Super Bowl 35 if hexadecimal is more your thing.

It’s the first prime-number Super Bowl since XLVII (Ravens over 49ers, 34-31.)

Among the athletes who have worn No. 53: Don Drysdale, Harry Carson, Artis Gilmore and Darryl Dawkins.

Diversion

Pop band Maroon 5 and rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott will perform the halftime show. Up with People, which headlined the show four times, is still awaiting its first appearance since 1986.

Gladys Knight will sing the national anthem, a year after Pink did the honors. Knight will join an odd mix of stars to carry out the duties, a list that includes Lady Gaga (2016), Billy Joel (1989 and 2007), Cher (1999), Kathie Lee Gifford (1995) and Al Hirt (1970).

Gamblers are saying the anthem performance will last 1 minute 50 seconds. You can bet on it. Or on whether a player will kneel (5-1 against). Or if a fan runs on the field (15-1). Or the color of Adam Levine of Maroon 5’s shirt (Black is the favorite) or whether a Coke or Pepsi commercial will appear first, or — well, you get the idea.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

— Are you planning to watch Super Bowl LIII? If so, what are you most looking forward to — the game, the commercials, the parties or the halftime show? If not, why not?

— If you’re a football fan, what do you think of the matchup of the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots? Who are you rooting for? Who do you think will win? What do you think will be the final score? Which players do you think will stand out and why?

— Of the narratives outlined in the article, which story line is most compelling to you and why?

— What do you think about the choice for this season’s Super Bowl halftime performers? If you could see anyone perform at the Super Bowl, whom would you want to see, and why?

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