Weekly Schedule

General Advice

The labs are fairly well synchronized with the lecture and your lab TA will provide you with the information for the procedures and activities in the lab. This website is for the lecture portion of the course.

For each week there are lecture videos posted on YouTube that cover the material for each topic. PDFs of the PowerPoints used during class are also posted in each week's section. The YouTube and in-person lectures work together, you should come to lectures and watch the YouTube videos (these may be useful to watch in advance). Many students consider this course to be difficult, being exposed to the material in multiple ways is an excellent approach to help succeed.

Feel free to subscribe to the Pleiotropy YouTube channel if you want automated updates when updated videos are posted and to have lasting access to these videos (i.e., after the semester ends and you lose access to BeachBoard). There is a playlist on that channel for this course.

Accompanying most YouTube videos is a single PDF of the slides. This is not just a set of the slides - it is a single slide to encourage you to take your own notes instead of just printing out copies of the slides. Writing out your own set of notes will be easier to study from and review before the exam and the physical act of writing and organizing your own notes improves understanding and retention over purely passive listening or using a laptop (citation).

The weekly assignments are posted here. Be sure to do the one that corresponds to your information (e.g., last name, ID number). You will not upload documents, the assignment will be submitted using the "quiz" function in Canvas. Start the quiz and you will have 15 minutes to enter the answers and values asked for in the assignment.

Exams will use the same quiz function, but with more time allowed and you won't receive the questions beforehand.

The criterion for which assignment or exam version you should do varies from week to week and exam to exam. Be very careful to make sure you do the correct version or you will not receive credit.

Practice Canvas submissions

If you haven't used Canvas before, use this assingment to practice with. Download the assignment and solve the questions. Then go to Canvas and submit your answers using the quiz function. I've provided both the blank practice assignment and a key for each so you can see how they are graded. This assignment does not count for course credit, but you should do it to make sure you understand how to submit assignment answers in Canvas.

Practice assignment

Week 1: Jan 22 - Jan 28

The first week of classes will not meet due to the CSU-wide faculty strike.

Week 2: Jan 29 - Feb 4

This week introduces the basic concepts in statistics, the approach whereby we take a sample from a population to estimate properties of that population. We also introduce the summation notation used for describing summations and other calculations when we have a table of data values.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 1, 2, 4.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #1.

This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value into the space for the corresponding quiz question. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise. Note that multiple choice answers may be displayed in a different order than shown on the assignment.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your last name:

Assignment #2.

This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your last name:

Assignment #1 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 6

Assignment #2 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 6

Week 3: Feb 5 - Feb 11

This week covers the basic statistics and calculations used to describe sets of data values. Typically we are calculating summary statistics from our sample in an effort to summarize the data and estimate the parameters of the population. In general, we are interested in values that summarize the location, spread, and shape of the distribution of data values.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 3, 5.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #3. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your first name:

Assignment #3 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 13

Week 4: Feb 12 - Feb 18

This week we introduce the foundational rules of probability and our first probability distribution. The basic concepts and rules of probability are useful for understanding the role of chance in our studies and because they will be the base upon which we build probability distributions that are used in statistical tests. The binomial probability distribution is the first and most simple probability distribution we will learn.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 6.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #4. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the last digit of your student ID:

Assignment #4 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 20

Week 5: Feb 19 - Feb 25

This week examines two more important probability distributions. The Poisson distribution is derived from the binomial distribution and models the situation in which we have a very large number of trials, but the success probability for each trial is low. This distribution is used in situations in which we try to figure out if our observations are random or there is a pattern. The normal distribution is derived from the binomial distribution and models the situation in which we have a very large number of trials, but the success probability for each trial is not necessarily low.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 7.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

  • Feb 20: Poisson probability distribution
    PDF link: bio260-2024sp-7-feb20.pdf
  • Feb 22: Normal probability distribution
    PDF link: bio260-2024sp-8-feb22.pdf

    Assignment #5. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
    Lecture assignment for this week is based on the second to last digit of your student ID:

Assignment #5 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Feb 27

Week 6: Feb 26 - Mar 3

This week we look at best practices for displaying quantitative data.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: Quiz #1, labs 8 & 9.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

No lecture assignment this week since there is an exam due Thursday.

LECTURE EXAM #1 opens 6:00AM on Feb 28 and must be submitted by 11:59PM on Feb 29

Week 7: Mar 4 - Mar 10

This week examines the concept of confidence intervals and our first statistcal test, the one-sample t-test, our first statistical test, the one sample t test. In this test we make a hypothesis about the value of the population mean and then reject or fail to reject this hypothesis by looking at the width of the confidence intervals around the sample mean. We also examine more detail about the types of statistical errors we can make when interpreting the results of our statistical test.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 10, 11.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #6 This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your last name:

Assignment #6 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Mar 12

Week 8: Mar 11 - Mar 17

This week introduces the two sample t-test and variance ratio F test. The two sample t-test allows us to compare the means of two samples to determine whether the means of the populations they come from are likely to be different or not. This is a super useful test widely used (unlike the one-sample t-test). There are actually several different t-tests and one of them requires equals variances in the populations. We therefore also look at the variance ratio F test which is test that allows us to compare the variances of two samples to determine whether the variances of the populations they come from are likely to be different or not. We will also look at how the rates of false positives and negatives can vary based on the true probability of the null hypothesis being true or not.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: lab exam.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #7. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your first name:

Assignment #7 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Mar 19

Week 9: Mar 18 - Mar 24

This week introduces the chi-squared techniques for comparing frequencies in different categories.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 12, 13.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

  • Mar 19: Chi-squared test
    PDF link: bio260-2024sp-14-mar19.pdf
  • Mar 21: 2x2 contingency tables: relative risk, odds ratio, risk difference
    PDF link: bio260-2024sp-15-mar21.pdf

    Assignment #8. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
    Lecture assignment for this week is based on the last digit of your student ID:

Assignment #8 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Mar 26

Week 10: Mar 25 - Mar 31

This week discusses biases that can cause problems and things to consider when designing experiments. They also discuss two famous experiments that serve as ethical cautions for performing scientific studies.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 14, 15.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

No lecture assignment this week.

LECTURE EXAM #2 opens 6:00AM on March 27 and must be submitted by 11:59PM on March 28

Week 11: Apr 1 - Apr 7 (Spring Break)

Week 12: Apr 8 - Apr 14

This week introduces the one-factor ANOVA, a method to compare the means in more than two populations (i.e., a super-sized t-test).

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 16, 17.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #9. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your last name:

Assignment #9 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Apr 16

Week 13: Apr 15 - Apr 21

This week introduces the two-factor ANOVA, a method to identify relationships between two factors and the means of groups that differ in those factors. It can also be used to detect interactions between the factors.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: 18.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #10. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the first letter of your first name:

Assignment #10 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Apr 23

Week 14: Apr 22 - Apr 28

This week describes the correlation and regression methods to look for relationships between two variables.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: Quiz #2, lab 19.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #11. This will be submitted through Canvas using the quiz function, not in-person or as an uploaded document. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the last digit of your student ID:

Assignment #11 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday Apr 30

Week 15: Apr 29 - May 5

This week covers several remaining topics for the course: power analysis, designing metrics, and a tour of advanced statistics.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: science communication, presentation prep.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

Assignment #12. This will be submitted through Canvas, not in-person. Prepare your answers and then either choose the correct multiple choice option or enter the value. Enter all numerical values to the nearest 0.001 unless instructed otherwise.
Lecture assignment for this week is based on the second to last digit of your student ID:

Assignment #12 due by 2:00 PM on Tuesday May 7

Week 16: May 6 - May 12

This week covers the last topic for the course: how to read a scientific paper.

Video lectures this week

Labs this week: group presentations.

Your TA will provide information about the activities and the assessment.

In-person lecture slides

LECTURE EXAM #3 opens at 6:00AM on May 8 and must be submitted by 11:59PM on May 9

LECTURE EXAM #4 is on May 16: it opens at 12:30PM and must be submitted by 2:30PM