1. Computation teaching problems
Gareth Funning, University of California, Riverside

2. R1 school
UC land grant campus for inland southern California
20,000 undergraduates
3,300 graduate students
Who we are
37% Hispanic or Latino
4% African American
15% White
31% Asian American

3. Computation in Earth Sciences at UCR
2010 – GEO 244, Numerical Methods and Modeling in the Geosciences
Graduate class, taught alternate years
Command line, shell-scripting, GMT, LaTeX and MATLAB (focus on inverse models, regression, optimization)
Essential skill development for graduate research
2015 – GEO 111, Numerical Skills in Geoscience
Undergraduate class, required for all majors (planned)
MATLAB (focus on visualization, simple box models, simple climate/biogeochemical models)
A basis to build upon for other classes in the major

4. What went down in GEO 242 Geophysics students International students
I went into this class, very interested in the material, but pretty scared of it. Now, I feel I am walking away with a useful set of skills that I am comfortable using. I have a much better idea of what I'm doing now, honestly This class was great. I learned a whole lot useful skills which will help me analyzing and presenting my work. Homework assignments were a little lengthy, I spent on average hours a week on them…other than that, great class and learned a lot about programming
Geophysics students
International students
75% positive

5. What went down in GEO 242 Atmospheric science students
The Instructor could benefit from preparing several explanations and acknowledging that the students…are just beginning, and that it may take longer for them to understand even simple concepts.
Most students were lost and confused. It forced many to have to spend the entire week looking up solutions to create maps, images, and plots.
It was difficult keeping up with mathematical concepts as the teacher had a fairly fast pace…I believe this course can be tailored to cater to every students need, not just a select few.
Atmospheric science students
Geology students
19% negative

6. Lessons learned
Even successful students take far too long over the assignments (not knowing when to ask for help?)
Pacing was difficult with a wide range of abilities in the class, some got left behind, others finished early
More varied examples needed to keep all engaged
Teaching the underlying math as well as the MATLAB implementation was too much for some
Reading error messages was a major issue for some students (basic computer literacy?)
Student frustration is often mirrored back by the instructor!

7. They enjoy relatively simple programming tasks that result in a disproportionately fancy success. Creating a simple movie was a great motivator.
Students often don't get the generic terminology (‘variable’, ‘parameter’, etc)
They don't understand or appreciate the exactness of computer programming…you cannot randomly insert spaces, omit commas etc.
BUT! movie2avi – RIP
I wish MATLAB would not keep making previous usages of code redundant
…it turns out if students don't grasp the science, it confuses the programming learning
Students 100% don't have a clue how to use the MATLAB help…I am sure it is wonderfully mathematically and computationally correct, but it is entirely useless to my students.
Andy Ridgwell, UCR

8. But it’s not all doom and gloom…

9. To succeed, you must start out VERY simple.
I spend two lectures just talking about directories and paths…until we cover it students won't understand why MATLAB doesn't know where their .m file is.
Scott Marshall, App. State
I tell my students to never spend more than 45mins on a single error.
I think it is essential for students to see me write code on the fly, see me make mistakes and know that even their instructor gets errors all the time.
In my course, I use data from petrology, to geophysics, strike and dip stuff, hydrology, image analysis. Students are quick to dismiss something challenging if they think it is only relevant outside of their primary interest.
Have significant time for office hours. Students will get stuck on very tiny syntax errors and waste hours on something very simple.