Syllabus

COLL XXXX -- Scientific Python by Example: An Introduction to Computing for Scientists and Engineers

See this link. Need to include this BS

Instructors

TwoChainz, IceTea

Course Objectives

• Introduce students to free & open-source scientific computing and data visualization tools in python
• Teach students to use the python programming language interactively via browser-based applications <- emphasize that interactive data analysis/viz techniques are a crucial part of modern data analysis workflow
• Teach fundamental programming concepts commonly used in scientific computing
• Teach students how to contribute to the open-source community (by publishing source)

Audience & Prerequisites

• Any undergraduate student, no programming or physics/chemistry/biology required
• Geared toward students that have had freshmen level physics but not necessary

Materials

• Personal laptop - Windows, OSX or Linux

Outline and Tentative Schedule

1. Introduction and setup ~ 1 week

• Introduction to course and goals
• Examples of computing in science here at Rice (ie where are these skills used / what kind of real problems)
• Python installation & setup

2. Projectile Motion ~ 4 weeks

• Programming Goals :
  • for-loops, basic math, expressions, data types ( lists, basic types ), logic and basic interaction (user input)
• Lesson Plan
  • Introduce students to idea / physics of projectile motion due to free-fall in gravity
  • Provide students with a notebook, lesson_1, which contains a guided section on the basic equations of projectile motion
  • Work through example of 1D motion and show students how to plot results with provided application/package
  • Introduce lab assignment -> extend the example to plot 2D projectile motion
  • (end lecture style)
  • work with students, answer questions, address as large group and questions which are common to multiple groups

3. Projectile Motion with air resistance ~ 2 weeks
4. Harmonic Motion ~ 3 weeks