This course is conducted as an artificial intelligence programming contest in Java. Students work in teams to program virtual robots to play Battlecode, a real-time strategy game. Optional lectures are provided on topics and programming practices relevant to the game, and students learn and improve their programming skills experientially. The competition culminates in a live Battlecode tournament.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

Economics is built on the premise that humans act rationally, but everyone behaves irrationally some of the time. Is it possible that human irrationality nullifies economic theory? Join Professor Antony Davies of Duquesne University and Erika Davies of George Mason University as they take you on a crash course of behavioral economics, discussing topics like rational choice, heuristics, nudging, and public choice economics.

Looking for engaging content for your economics courses? The Institute for Humane Studies has curated this collection of educational resources to help economics professors enrich their curriculum. Find videos, interactive games, reading lists, and more on everything from opportunity costs to trade policy. This collection is updated frequently with new content, so watch this space!

This handout will take you through a heuristic process aimed at developing an effective reflective writing assignment for students keeping in mind the expected learning outcomes.

The class will cover quantitative techniques of Operations Research with emphasis on applications in transportation systems analysis (urban, air, ocean, highway, pick-up and delivery systems) and in the planning and design of logistically oriented urban service systems (e.g., fire and police departments, emergency medical services, emergency repair services). It presents a unified study of functions of random variables, geometrical probability, multi-server queueing theory, spatial location theory, network analysis and graph theory, and relevant methods of simulation. There will be discussion focused on the difficulty of implementation, among other topics.

Quantitative techniques of operations research with emphasis on applications in transportation systems analysis (urban, air, ocean, highway, and pickup and delivery systems) and in the planning and design of logistically oriented urban service systems (e.g., fire and police departments, emergency medical services, and emergency repair services). Unified study of functions of random variables, geometrical probability, multi-server queuing theory, spatial location theory, network analysis and graph theory, and relevant methods of simulation. Computer exercises and discussions of implementation difficulties.

Intensive coverage of precision engineering theory, heuristics, and applications pertaining to the design of systems ranging from consumer products to machine tools. Topics covered include: economics, project management, and design philosophy; principles of accuracy, repeatability, and resolution; error budgeting; sensors; sensor mounting; systems design; bearings; actuators and transmissions; system integration driven by functional requirements, and operating physics. Emphasis on developing creative designs, which are optimized by analytical techniques applied via spreadsheets. This is a projects course with lectures consisting of design teams presenting their work and the class helping to develop solutions; thereby everyone learning from everyone’s projects.

Social cognition is the area of social psychology that examines how people perceive and think about their social world. This module provides an overview of key topics within social cognition and attitudes, including judgmental heuristics, social prediction, affective and motivational influences on judgment, and explicit and implicit attitudes.

This course is for educators who are passionate about the future of their 7-12+ year old students and want to learn more about teaching computer science in an engaging and meaningful way.

A checklist used by teachers to assess elementary students’ use of heuristics (strategies or routines) to solve problems.

A checklist in teacher language used by teachers to assess middle school students’ use of heuristics (problem solving techniques and rules of thumb) to solve problems while they work on activities and projects.

A rubric in student language used by elementary students to meet high standards of quality as they problem solve.

A rubric in student language used by middle school students to assess their use of heuristics (problem solving techniques and rules of thumb) as they solve problems.