Arun Moorthy | Trent University

This lecture series covers a broad range of topics that are integral to conducting scientific investigations in forensic science. My hope is that students completing this course will have developed increased competency in

1. Critical reading
2. Scientific writing
3. Data analysis
4. Problem solving

and the know-how to practice these skills in forensic science applications.

Lecture 1: What do we mean by “science”?

Lecture 2: The scientific method – a historical and philosophical introduction

Lecture 3: Making observations and asking questions: critical thinking 101

Lecture 4: Learning from others: reading and appraising published literature

Lecture 5: Learning for ourselves: creating models and conducting experiments

Lecture 6: The language of science: a brief review of key mathematical concepts

Lecture 7: Quantifying uncertainty: a brief review of probability and statistics

Lecture 8: The problem of scale: an introduction to data analysis with computers

Lecture 9: Applied science for discovery and problem solving: the craft of research

Lecture 10: On being a scientist – a discussion of ethics and responsibilities