CS382:Attributes-guidelines

Note: I moved some of this to the checklist/n-by-n matrix of "necessary stuff": Topics Matrix --Kay 18:31, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

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In Silico is designed to meet Earlham's Analytical Reasoning general education requirement, specifically the Quantitative Reasoning component. The full description is here: http://www.earlham.edu/curriculumguide/academics/analytical.html

There are a number of themes that run through the units:

• Quantitative reasoning
• Using models, modifying models, developing models
• Validation and verification
• Using tools, broadly defined
• Data -> information -> knowledge
• Algorithmic thinking
• Abstraction
• Computational thinking

The units should have the following attributes, for the pedagogical ones all units should try to adhere to them, for the others we just need to make sure at least one unit covers them.

• Pedagogical
  • Inquiry based learning
  • Scaffolded
  • Open-ended to a degree
  • Using science to illustrate the diversity and complexity of the world around us

• Structural
  • Metric system
  • OSX, Windows, Linux whenever possible (lab sizes and locations)

Mechanical and structural stuff:

• Scales well, say 20-80 students
  • Automated assessment tools
  • Effective use of TAs