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Humans make decisions every day. As individuals, voters, and citizens of the world, the choices we make have the power to shape the world around us. The problem is, we don't make choices very well. Sense and Sensibility and Science attempts to address this. Our undergraduate curriculum uses the tools developed by science to help people better understand the world around them and make better decisions together in an increasingly uncertain world.

About

Course Topics

Join Us

Book

High School Curriculum

Philosophical Underpinnings

Probabilistic Thinking

Causal Reasoning

Science's Can-do Aspect

Human Cognition

Group Decision Making

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-== Welcome! ==
+[[File:Cropped Last Class.jpg|center|frame]]
-'''Welcome to the SSS wiki!''' This site holds the lesson plans, projects, teaching guides, and content for the [https://curricularconnections.berkeley.edu/big-ideas-courses/sense-and-sensibility-and-science/ UC Berkeley course] Sense and Sensibility and Science (SSS). Although this wiki is written to be used by instructors at UC Berkeley, it can easily be adapted for use at other universities. Variants of SSS have already been taught at [https://gened.fas.harvard.edu/classes/pride-prejudice-p-values Harvard] and [https://catalogue.uci.edu/search/?P=CHEM%2014 UC Irvine] and will soon be taught at UChicago as well!
+<!-- Every day we make decisions as individuals, as voters, and as members of our various communities. ''The problem is, we don't do it so well.''
+The focus in this college course is on the errors humans tend to make, and the approaches science methodology has given us (and we are still developing) to prevent or at least minimize those errors. -->
+Humans make decisions every day. As individuals, voters, and citizens of the world, the choices we make have the power to shape the world around us. The problem is, we don't make choices very well. ''Sense and Sensibility and Science'' attempts to address this. Our undergraduate curriculum uses the tools developed by science to help people better understand the world around them and make better decisions together in an increasingly uncertain world.
-You will need an account to view or edit pages on this wiki. Please log in or [[Special:RequestAccount|request an account]]. Please direct any inquiries to [mailto:winstonyin@berkeley.edu Winston Yin] and [mailto:buggabrielhere@berkeley.edu Gabriel Perko-Engel].
+<div class="home-button-container">
+    <div class="home-button" id="button-ci">[[Course introduction|'''About''']]</div>
-== About the Course ==
+    <div class="home-button" id="button-lm">[[Topics and lesson plans|'''Course Topics''']]</div>
+    <div class="home-button" id="button-ju">[[Contact us|'''Join Us''']]</div>
-This is a course on the ideas from science that are most widely useful for everyone. Many insights and conceptual tools from scientific thinking are of great utility for all kinds of reasoning, from reading the news critically to making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The focus in this course is on the errors humans tend to make, and the approaches scientific methodology has developed (and continues to develop) to minimize those errors. The course includes a discussion of the nature of science, what makes science such an effective way of knowing, how both non-scientific thinking and scientific thinking can go awry, and how we can reason more clearly and successfully as individuals, as members of groups, and as citizens of a democracy.
+</div>
+<div class="home-button-container">
-Every day we make decisions that can and should be informed by science. We make decisions as individuals, as voters, and as members of our various communities. We make decisions as students and parents and policy makers. The problem is, we don't do it so well—a fact sadly apparent in political debates. It's easy to blame poor decision-making on the greed, irresponsibility, ignorance, or incompetence of other people.  But the problem seems to be more basic than that. It seems we face a paradox. Living in a democracy means that everyone's view counts the same as everyone else's. But to make decisions informed by science, we often need to defer to those with relevant expertise. Therefore, we shouldn't rely on a democratic system to make the best decisions. Or should we? This basic tension between science and democratic decision-making serves as a unifying theme for SSS, a course that aims to equip students with basic tools to be better thinkers.  We will explore key aspects of scientific thinking that everyone should know, especially the many ways that we humans tend to fool ourselves, and how to avoid them—including how to differentiate signal from noise, evaluate causal claims, and avoid reasoning biases. We'll then look at the best models for using science to guide decisions, since the rational and arational (e.g., values, fears, and goals) then have to be combined. We will explore these themes experientially, often with in-class activities and discussions, and we will culminate in two open-ended projects to design better methods of deliberation and decision making, first as groups, and then as individuals. Co-taught by faculty from Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology, S&S&S fosters intellectual advancement for interdisciplinary knowledge seekers. At UC Berkeley, this course (L&S 22) satisfies the Philosophy and Values, Physical Science, or Social and Behavioral Sciences breadth requirements in the College of Letters & Science.
+    <div class="home-button" id="button-ci">[https://thirdmillenniumthinking.com/ '''Book''']</div>
+    <div class="home-button" id="button-ci">[https://www.nobelprize.org/scientific-thinking-for-all/ '''High School Curriculum''']</div>
-=== Course Content ===
+</div>
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-The full version of this course is fourteen weeks long and covers topics from philosophy, psychology, data science, and the natural sciences. The topics in this course are as follows. You will need an account to see the topics and lesson plans in more depth.
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+    <div class="home-card-row">
-{{Project topics}}
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Philosophical Underpinnings.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Philosophical Underpinnings]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Philosophical Underpinnings|'''Philosophical Underpinnings''']]</div></div>
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Probabilistic Thinking.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Probabilistic Thinking]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Probabilistic Thinking|'''Probabilistic Thinking''']]</div></div>
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Causal Reasoning.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Causal Reasoning]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Causal Reasoning|'''Causal Reasoning''']]</div></div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="home-card-row">
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Can-do Aspect.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Science's "Can-do" Aspect]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Science's Can-do Aspect|'''Science's Can-do Aspect''']]</div></div>
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Human Cognition.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Human Cognition]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Human Cognition|'''Human Cognition''']]</div></div>
+        <div class="home-card">[[File:Watercolor Cover - Group Decision Making.jpg|link=Concept groupings#Group Decision Making]]
+        <div class="home-card-text">[[Concept groupings#Group Decision Making|'''Group Decision Making''']]</div></div>
+    </div>
+</div>
+<templatestyles src="Template:Main/styles.css" />
+<!-- {{Lesson table}} -->
+<!-- {{LinkCardInternal
+|url=Lesson plans
+|title=All Course Concepts
+|description=A complete list of all the topics in Sense Sensibility and Science.}} -->
+[[Category:Introduction]]