Teaching coding as a fundamental tool in the natural sciences

In 2020 I had the opportunity to build a introductory coding class in Python from the ground up. In collaboration with María D. Hernández Limón and Amanda Farah, we designed the class how we wish we were taught to code as part of our natural science curriculum. We began teaching the course as part of the Environmental Data Science Bootcamps run by the DSEER training grant and improved on it each year.

The course starts at the fundamental basics of coding, learning about different data types and how to manipulate them, and finish with some complicated plotting and data science tools. We use examples drawn from the environmental sciences and our own research to motivate students with real life uses for coding. Each year we are so proud of how far our students come with a growth mindset and hard work!

Due to the uncertainy of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ran the course over Zoom for the first two years, experiencing challenges like keeping students engaged and Zoom fatigue. In 2022, we moved the course to a hybrid model with students in person and on Zoom which was a new challenge!

To read more about our curriculum, learn by using our course materials, or see what other courses the Environmental Data Science Bootcamps offered, please check out our course on github at this link.