UC Berkeley Cognitive Science, Fall 2008
Cognitive Science C1, Introduction to Cog Sci
Jennifer Hudin, 4.1 out of 5
TuTh 8-930, 101 Barker
“She did an excellent job, including introducing complex mathematical notions to kids who had no math at all, plus neuroscience and philosophy all together. She did an excellent job—a real credit to cognitive science…she can’t plan and execute a course. Horribly unbalanced coverage of material, insufficient transparency/availability of resources (due to fears of dropping attendance), habit of reckless exaggeration, significant misunderstandings of math and physics…She gives you the tests questions beforehand, so the tests were not hard. Lectures were a bit disorganized though. Discussion attendance was mandatory…a great professor – she is so passionate about the subject matter, her excitement rubs off easily. Especially great for an 8am class!”
Text: None reported
Cognitive Science C100/Psychology C120, Basic Issues in Cognition
William Prinzmetal, 3.1 out of 5
MW 11-12, 159 Mulford
“Great Prof. Tells you exactly what he expects on the first day of class. Tests were easy enough. minimal homework and only a short paper…He conveys the subject matter in an ok manner, though a bit dryly. In order to ace tests, you must know all lecture materials (on slides) and read. Its an average class…He can go pretty fast with the slides (and I typed my notes). Group-studying helped a lot. Also, there’s a lot to cushion your grade, like 8 article summaries, going to the exploratorium, and a paper where you regurgitate 3 articles…gives nit-picky weekly assignments. questions his students intellect despite making mistakes himself. avoid if possible.”
Text: Cognitive Psychology by Douglas, PhD Medin, Brian H. Ross, and Arthur B. Markman
Cognitive Science C126/Psychology C126, Perception
Stephen Palmer (ratings under review)
WF 10-11, 101 Morgan
Text: Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology by Stephen E. Palmer
Cognitive Science C127/Psychology C127, Cognitive Neuroscience
Richard Ivry, 4.2 out of 5
MW 12-1, 101 Morgan
“Very enthusiastic and funny professor—I found myself highly engaged in almost every lecture. He shows a ton of video clips that help in understanding the lecture material…He is very intelligent, an awesome lecturer, and clear about what you need to do. I couldn’t have passed this class if I would have taken it with anyone else…I found myself highly engaged in almost every lecture. He shows a ton of video clips that help in understanding the lecture material. Exams are not too difficult…He’s a good lecturer and his powerpoints are easy to follow. BUT his midterms were crazy difficult!”
Text: Cognitive Neuroscience, Third Edition by Michael S. Gazzaniga, Richard B. Ivry, and George R. Mangun
Cognitive Science C131/Psychology C123, Computational Models in Cognition
Tom Griffiths (4.8 out of 5)
TuTh 2-330, 310 Hearst Mining
“Young, talented, and motivated, Professor Griffiths is one of the best professors in cogsci. Even though he looks young enough to be an undergrad, he is at the top of his field…Sometimes it seems like his problem sets are trying so hard not to give away the answer that you end up spending more time figuring out what he is asking than the actual answer… Lectures are usually fun and interesting, he uses great examples, and all the lecture slides go onto bspace. He seems to do everything he can to make it interesting and let the students do well.”
Texts: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Series in Artificial Intelligence) by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig
Ratings from RateMyProfessors.com
