Teaching foundational quantitative and computational skills to early undergraduates using Jupyter Notebooks.
Date:
As the data that we collect dramatically increases in both quantity and complexity, all college graduates will need more quantitative and computational skills to be productive and successful members of society. Ecology students are no exception. Instructors are often looking for efficient and exciting (or at least non-off-putting) ways to introduce undergraduates early in their careers to the powerful data analysis tools that they will learn and use later, such as the statistical programming language, R, without overwhelming introductory students. Our question was: what is the most accessible and effective framework for teaching quantitative and computational skills in introductory ecology classes that will meet our learning goals and prepare students for continued development in statistics and advanced courses?
Co-presented with Christy Clay, Ph.D., also of Westminster College