Principles of Data Science

DSC 10, Spring 2026 at UC San Diego

Janine Tiefenbruck
she/her

Lecture(s): (A) MWF 10-10:50AM, (B) MWF 11-11:50AM in PODEM 1A19

Tip: When working on assignments, use Ctrl+F on this page to search for a keyword and quickly find the relevant lecture. Click the “✏️ write” button to open a static version of the lecture for reference, which is much faster than loading it on DataHub.

Also, make sure to use the reference sheet to quickly look up babypandas methods and see examples of how they work.

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Week 1 – Python Basics

Mon Mar 30

LEC 1 Introduction

CIT 1.0-1.3

Keywords: data science, course structure, policies, syllabus, Little Women demo

DISC 1 Getting Started with Jupyter Notebooks

Wed Apr 1

LEC 2 Expressions and Data Types

BPD 1-6

Keywords: Jupyter notebooks, expressions, variables, assignment, functions, int, float

Thu Apr 2

SUR Welcome Survey

SYL Syllabus Check

Fri Apr 3

LEC 3 Strings, Lists, and Arrays

BPD 7-8, CIT 14.1

Keywords: string methods, mean, median, lists, arrays, array arithmetic

Week 2 – DataFrames and Visualization

Mon Apr 6

LEC 4 Arrays and DataFrames

BPD 9

Keywords: array methods, np.arange, .read_csv, .get, .assign, .sort_values, .iloc, .loc, index

DISC 2 Arrays and DataFrames

LAB 0 Expressions and Data Types

PRE Pretest

Wed Apr 8

LEC 5 Querying and Grouping

BPD 10-11

Keywords: .set_index, Booleans, querying, .shape, &, |, .take, .groupby, aggregation

Thu Apr 9

LAB 1 Arrays and DataFrames

Fri Apr 10

LEC 6 Grouping and Data Visualization

CIT 7.0-7.1

Keywords: .groupby, numerical vs. categorical, scatter plot, line plot, bar chart

Week 3 – Histograms and Functions

Mon Apr 13

LEC 7 Distributions and Histograms

CIT 7.2-7.3

Keywords: distributions, density histograms, binning, total area, overlaid plots

DISC 3 Querying, Grouping, and Plotting

HW 1 Basic Python, Arrays, and DataFrames

Wed Apr 15

LEC 8 Functions and Applying

BPD 6, 12

Keywords: functions, arguments, print vs. return, .apply, .reset_index

QUIZ 1 Quiz 1 covers Lectures 1-6

Thu Apr 16

LAB 2 Data Visualizations and Functions

Fri Apr 17

LEC 9 Grouping on Multiple Columns, Merging

BPD 11, 13

Keywords: .groupby([col_1, col_2, …]), subgroups, MultiIndex, .merge, number of rows

Week 4 – DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Mon Apr 20

LEC 10 Conditional Statements and Iteration

CIT 9.0-9.2

Keywords: in, not, and, or, if, else, elif, for-loops, np.append, accumulator pattern

DISC 4 Functions, DataFrames, and Control Flow

HW 2 DataFrames, Data Visualization, and Functions

Wed Apr 22

LEC 11 Probability

CIT 9.5

Keywords: event, conditional prob., multiplication and addition rules, independence

QUIZ 2 Quiz 2 covers Lectures 7-11

Thu Apr 23

LAB 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Fri Apr 24

LEC 12 Simulation

CIT 9.3-9.4

Keywords: np.random.choice, replacement, np.count_nonzero, coin flipping, Monty Hall

Week 5 – Simulations and Sampling

Mon Apr 27

LEC 13 Distributions and Sampling

CIT 10.0-10.4

Keywords: probability vs. empirical distribution, SRS, .sample, parameter, statistic

DISC 5 Probability and Simulation

HW 3 DataFrames, Control Flow, and Probability

Wed Apr 29

REV Review

SUR Mid-Quarter Survey

Fri May 1

EXAM Midterm Exam covers Lectures 1-12

Week 6 – Confidence Intervals and the Normal Distribution

Mon May 4

LEC 14 Bootstrapping and Confidence Intervals

CIT 13.0-13.2

Keywords: inference, bootstrapping, resample, np.percentile, confidence interval

DISC 6 Sampling, Bootstrapping, and Confidence Intervals

PROJ Midterm Project

Wed May 6

LEC 15 Confidence Intervals, Center, and Spread

CIT 13.3-13.4

Keywords: interpreting CIs, robust vs. sensitive, center, standard deviation

Thu May 7

LAB 4 Simulation, Sampling, & Bootstrapping

Fri May 8

LEC 16 Standardization and the Normal Distribution

CIT 14.2-14.3

Keywords: Chebyshev, standard units, normal distribution, CDF, inflection points

Week 7 – Central Limit Theorem

Mon May 11

LEC 17 The Central Limit Theorem

CIT 14.4-14.5

Keywords: distribution of the sample mean, square root law, CLT-based CIs

DISC 7 The Normal Distribution and the CLT

HW 4 Simulation, Sampling, & Bootstrapping

Wed May 13

LEC 18 Choosing Sample Sizes, Statistical Models

CIT 14.6, 11.1

Keywords: standard deviation of 0s and 1s, np.random.multinomial, Robert Swain jury

Thu May 14

LAB 5 Variability and the Normal Distribution

Fri May 15

LEC 19 Hypothesis Testing

CIT 11.3

Keywords: null and alternative hypotheses, test statistic, fair or unfair coin

Week 8 – Hypothesis and Permutation Testing

Mon May 18

LEC 20 Hypothesis Testing and Total Variation Distance

CIT 11.2, 11.4

Keywords: fair or unfair coin, p-value, midterm exam scores, Alameda County jury, TVD

DISC 8 Hypothesis Testing and Permutation Testing

HW 5 The Normal Distribution and the Central Limit Theorem

Wed May 20

LEC 21 TVD, Hypothesis Testing, and Permutation Testing

CIT 12.0-12.1

Keywords: confidence intervals for hypothesis testing, body temperature, smoking/babies

QUIZ 3 Quiz 3 covers Lectures 13-17

Thu May 21

LAB 6 Hypothesis Testing

Fri May 22

LEC 22 Permutation Testing

CIT 12.3

Keywords: smoking/babies, np.random.permutation, shuffling, Deflategate

Week 9 – Prediction

Mon May 25

No Lecture (Memorial Day)

HW 6 Hypothesis Testing and Permutation Testing

Wed May 27

LEC 23 Correlation

CIT 15.0-15.2

Keywords: association, correlation coefficient (r), predicting heights, regression line (su)

QUIZ 4 Quiz 4 covers Lectures 18-21

Fri May 29

LEC 24 Regression and Least Squares

CIT 15.2-15.4

Keywords: regression line in original units, outliers, errors, RMSE, best fit, least squares

Week 10 – Review

Mon Jun 1

LEC 25 Residuals and Inference

CIT 15.5-16.3

Keywords: residuals, residual plots, patterns, datasaurus dozen, prediction intervals

DISC 9 Regression

LAB 7 Regression

Wed Jun 3

REV Review

PROJ Final Project

Fri Jun 5

REV Review, Conclusion

Sat Jun 6

EXAM Final Exam (3-6PM)

SUR SETs and End-of-Quarter Survey (due 8AM)