Chris Malone (Winona State University)
Abstract
"Writing code is an essential component to learning and doing data science. The approach taken to writing code is too often along the lines of “I would like my students to be able to use Python, so I teach my students how to write code in Python.” Some suggest that writing code is similar to writing a story. This metaphor has changed the way that we teach coding within our curriculum here at Winona State University. Well written code should be organized, easy to read, and easy to understand. In these ways, writing code can be viewed as enhancing one’s communication skills around working with data.
The presenters of this workshop will discuss and share curriculum that has been developed to teach code writing using a technology agnostic approach. This curriculum requires students to first consider a plan or design for their code. A design is created by considering each individual data processing step necessary to complete the desired task. The design is then used to guide the writing of the code in a variety of computing technologies. The apparent advantages of using this approach will be shared with workshop participants."