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Text: Computers and Scientific Thinking - Spring 2020 Edition, David Reed.
Custom text available for purchase at the bookstore.
Computer Access: Many of the class periods will involve working on a computer, either using provided software tools or developing your own interactive Web pages. There are a number of Mac computers in the classroom and you are welcome to use these on a first-come, first-served basis. However, if you have your own laptop, you are encouraged to bring it to class and work directly on it. Installing the free lab software, Brackets, is straightforward and assistance is available if needed.
This course introduces students to science and scientific reasoning from a perspective that integrates computer science and the natural sciences. Students will gain a basic understanding of computer technology (its organization, history, societal impact, etc.) and how computers are used in various scientific disciplines. In particular, the use of the scientific method and the importance of computer modeling in scientific inquiry will be studied. Students will learn to develop simple Web-based programs for analyzing data and modeling systems, and use those programs in conducting hands-on experiments. Applications in biology, physics, and data science will provide insights into how these disciplines approach problems and utilize computers and computer modeling as tools.
The specific goals of this course are:
Class periods will consist of two types of activity. For discussion days,
students will be assigned readings and must answer review questions on BlueLine
before the discussion day.
Attendance and participation in class discussions
of the assigned material is expected of all students.
Practical experience in
developing Web-based programs and using them to conduct experiments will be
obtained through unit exercises. Students will be assigned exercises and
will work on the computer with the assistance of the instructor.
Interspersed throughout the course will be four lab assignments, which involve using computers as tools to solve problems from the sciences. In addition to some programming, lab assignments generally involve the observation of natural systems or simulations, data collection and analysis, and a written summary of your findings.
Students are expected to read the assigned chapters and complete the assigned exercises and labs remotely. Instructor presenations will be posted on BlueLine and should be reviewed. As before, discussion answers and exercises will be submitted via BlueLine. Students are encouraged to send questions to the instructor via email when possible, and online office hours will be posted to enable group discussions. Students are also encouraged to utilize the Discussion feature of BlueLine.
In addition, there will be two one 75-minute tests and a cumulative 100-minute
final
exam.
unit exercises | |
lab assignments | |
review questions/discussions | 10 % |
100-minute final exam |
The final course grade will be based on the above weightings. At the minimum, the following cutoffs will apply: A (93-100%), A- (90-92), B+ (87-89%), B (83-86%), B- (80-82), C+ (77-79%), C (73-76%), C- (70-72), D (60-69%), and F (0-59%). Some shifting of grades (in an upward direction only) may occur as final letter grades are assigned.
Regular attendance is expected of all students. If a student must miss class
for a legitimate reason, it is their responsibility to make up missed work.
Assignments and tests will not be rescheduled except in extreme circumstances.
Unexcused absences will directly impact the student's grade on discussion days
(resulting in a 0 for the missed day), and it is expected that excessive
absences will leave the student unprepared for tests and assignments. If a class
must be cancelled by the instructor for some reason, notification will be
sent to students via email.
Creighton's policy on cheating and plagiarism is spelled out in the the Student Handbook, with college procedures available online. In addition, the following guidelines hold for this course.
Violations of the above collaboration will be dealt with severely, with possible outcomes including failure in the course.
Date | Topic | Readings | Videos | Hand-in |
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Jan 15/16 |
Course overview. | |||
20/21 22/23 |
Computer basics. (ppt/pdf) Lab 1 |
Unit 1 |
disc1 |
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27/28 29/30 |
HTML & Web pages: (ppt/pdf) HTML, links, images, lists, tables. |
Unit 2 |
lab1 |
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Feb 3/4 5/6 |
History of science & computing. (ppt/pdf) Dynamic Web pages: (ppt/pdf) |
Unit 3 Unit 4 |
disc3 exer2 |
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10/11 12/13 |
events, assignments, dynamic images, dynamic text, text boxes. |
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17/18 19/20 |
Internet & the Web. (ppt/pdf) TEST 1 |
Unit 5 |
disc5, exer4 |
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24/25 26/27 |
Applications in biology. (ppt/pdf) Lab 2 |
Online: 1 |
discBio |
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Mar 2/3 4/5 |
Pages that compute: (ppt/pdf) numbers, functions, randomness. |
Unit 6 |
lab2 |
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9/10 11/12 |
SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS | |||
16/17 18/19 |
ALL CLASSES CANCELED | |||
23/24 25/26 |
Algorithms & programming. (ppt/pdf) Abstraction & libraries: (ppt/pdf) |
Unit 7 Unit 8 |
vid7(1),
vid7(2) vid8(1) |
disc7 |
30/31 Apr 1/2 |
user-defined functions, parameters, return, libraries, random.js. |
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vid8(2),
vid8(3) vid8(4) |
exer6 |
6/7 8/9 |
Computer science as a discipline. (ppt/pdf) Lab 3 |
Unit 9 |
vid9(1),
vid9(2) vidLab3 |
disc9 exer8 |
13/14 15/16 |
Conditional execution & repetition: (ppt/pdf) if, if-else, counters, loops. |
Unit 10 |
vid10(1),
vid10(2) vid10(3) |
lab3 |
20/21 22/23 |
Applications in data science. (ppt/pdf) Lab 4 |
Online: 1 & 2 |
vidDS(1),
vidDS(2) vidLab4 |
discDS exer10 |
27/28 29/30 |
Data Representation. (ppt/pdf) Computers & Society. (ppt/pdf) |
Unit 11 Unit 12 |
vid11(1),
vid11(2) vid12(1), vid12(2) |
disc11 disc12, lab4 |
May 7
SECTION B FINAL EXAM Thursday, 8:00-9:40
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May 8
SECTION C FINAL EXAM Friday, 10:00-11:40
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