Course Structure

The Learning Environment

This course will be conducted entirely on the World Wide Web. There are no set class meeting times, but you will be required to complete weekly assignments. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between two environments in the World Wide Web. These are:

This site

We will use this website to house instructional materials that I have created.

Canvas

Canvas is Penn State's course management system. We will use Canvas for turning in assignments, receiving feedback and grades, reading assignments, and discussions.

Penn State Library

You will use library e-reserves to access the scientific articles we'll read in this course. There's a link to the PSU library site in the Resources drop-down menu on this website.

Topics of Study

There are seven procedural lessons total that will be completed at a rate of either one or two weeks per lesson. Lesson learning activities will be in the form of programming exercises and reading and discussion revolving around data and concept visualization in the Earth sciences. For the projects, you will use skills you've learned to create visualizations and a teaching instrument of your choice.

Lesson 1: Introduction

Download and get familiar with the programming language we'll use in this course.

Lesson 2: Loops, colors, variables

Write programs with colors and for loops. Discuss visualization skills and their classifications.

Lesson 3: If-else structures

Write programs that simulate animation using if - else if - else structures. Discuss strategies to teach visualization skills.

Lesson 4: User input, functions

Write programs that involve interactivity. Discuss how to measure the worth of a graphic.

Lesson 5: Text, scaling, rotation

Write programs involving typography. Discuss strategies to incorporate animations as learning tools.

Lesson 6: 3D, image i/o

Write programs using a 3D renderer. Save program output.

Lesson 7: arrays

Use data arrays to manipulate and plot data.

Small Projects

Create two projects that make use of skills learned in Lessons 1-7.

Capstone Project

Create a lesson plan on the topic of your choice.

Course Assignments

In EARTH 801, I will rely upon a variety of methods to assess and evaluate student learning, including:

Required participation in online discussion forums

These provide opportunities for me to gauge your progress and ability to articulate key concepts. I will assign weekly readings and ask you to discuss and debate the significance of these readings within the larger framework of the current lesson's topic. The discussions will also be a venue for you to get help or give help when performing the data analyses.

Programming exercises

You will write small procedural programs.

Projects

These will be used to evaluate your knowledge and skills through the production of programs that demonstrate your ability to visualize a data set and to use data viz skills to teach course concepts to your own students.