research-article

Teaching biologists to compute using data visualization

Authors:

Kay A. Robbins,

David M. Senseman,

Priscilla Elizabeth PateAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '11: Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education

Pages 335 - 340

https://doi.org/10.1145/1953163.1953265

Published: 09 March 2011 Publication History

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Abstract

The accelerating use of computation in all aspects of science continues to widen the gap between student skills and expectations. Currently, computation is taught using one of two approaches: teach students a standard programming language (e.g., FORTRAN, JAVA or C) perhaps augmented by support tools such as Alice or teach them to use a program such as MATLAB by formulating and solving math problems. Both approaches have high failure rates for students hindered by poor mathematics training and weak logic skills. This paper describes an alternative approach that introduces students to computing in the context of data analysis and visualization using MATLAB. Our goal is produce computationally qualified young scientists by teaching a highly relevant computational curriculum early in their college career. The course, which integrates writing, problem-solving, statistics, visual analysis, simulation, and modeling, is designed to produce students with usable data analysis skills. The course is in its third year of implementation and is required of all biology majors at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

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Cited By

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Bandi AFellah A(2017)Crafting a data visualization course for the tech industryJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3144645.314465233:2(46-56)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3144645.3144652
Anderson RErnst MOrdóñez RPham PTribelhorn BDecker AEiselt KAlphonce CTims J(2015)A Data Programming CS1 CourseProceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/2676723.2677309(150-155)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2676723.2677309
Yuen TRobbins K(2014)A Qualitative Study of Students' Computational Thinking Skills in a Data-Driven Computing ClassACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/267666014:4(1-19)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2676660
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Index Terms

Teaching biologists to compute using data visualization
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
      2. Model curricula

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Published In

SIGCSE '11: Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education

March 2011

754 pages

ISBN:9781450305006

DOI:10.1145/1953163

General Chairs:
Thomas J. Cortina
Carnegie Mellon University
,
Ellen L. Walker
Hiram College
,
Program Chairs:
Laurie Smith King
College of the Holy Cross
,
David R. Musicant
Carleton College

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 09 March 2011

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SIGCSE '11: The 42nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

March 9 - 12, 2011

TX, Dallas, USA

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SIGCSE '11 Paper Acceptance Rate 107 of 315 submissions, 34%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,787 of 5,146 submissions, 35%

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Bandi AFellah A(2017)Crafting a data visualization course for the tech industryJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3144645.314465233:2(46-56)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3144645.3144652
Anderson RErnst MOrdóñez RPham PTribelhorn BDecker AEiselt KAlphonce CTims J(2015)A Data Programming CS1 CourseProceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/2676723.2677309(150-155)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2676723.2677309
Yuen TRobbins K(2014)A Qualitative Study of Students' Computational Thinking Skills in a Data-Driven Computing ClassACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/267666014:4(1-19)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2676660
Anderson RErnst MOrdóñez RPham PWolfman SDougherty JNagel KDecker AEiselt K(2014)Introductory programming meets the real worldProceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/2538862.2538994(465-466)Online publication date: 5-Mar-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2538862.2538994

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Research experience for teachers: data analysis & mining, visualization, and image processing

Examining PhD Student Interest in Teaching: An Analysis of 19 Years of Historical Data (Abstract Only)

Increasing Female Participation in Computing: The Harvey Mudd College Story

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