Abstract
At the Workshop on Teaching Computational Science at ICCS 2015, we presented an approach to use scientific workflows in computational science education. Concretely, we described how we used a process modelling and execution framework for scientific workflow projects in the scope of a computer science course for Master students with a background in natural sciences. We also reported on a variant of the course that served the converse purpose, namely to teach the basics of scientific workflows this time to Bachelor students of a Computer Science study program (who are in the process of acquiring solid programming and software development skills, but have hardly any background in other scientific disciplines).
Furthermore, we envisaged to offer a course that brings both groups together, with project work carried out in interdisciplinary pairs consisting of a student of a natural science subject and a computer science partner - a constellation that many students are likely to find themselves in after graduation. Meanwhile, we have been able to actually implement this variant of the course. Taking on the roles of the “domain expert” and the “programmer”, respectively, the interdisciplinary pairs worked together on one problem - from different perspectives, but with the workflow model being the means to bridge the gap between their areas of expertise.
The experiences with this interdisciplinary project course were very positive. The students designed and implemented larger and more complex scientific workflows than those in the previous years. In the course evaluation they reported that although in the beginning they found it difficult to follow their partner from the other domain, they were impressed how much that improved during the project work, and that they enjoyed and valued this experience. Encouraged by these outcomes, we plan to continue and extend the course concept in the future.
Furthermore, we envisaged to offer a course that brings both groups together, with project work carried out in interdisciplinary pairs consisting of a student of a natural science subject and a computer science partner - a constellation that many students are likely to find themselves in after graduation. Meanwhile, we have been able to actually implement this variant of the course. Taking on the roles of the “domain expert” and the “programmer”, respectively, the interdisciplinary pairs worked together on one problem - from different perspectives, but with the workflow model being the means to bridge the gap between their areas of expertise.
The experiences with this interdisciplinary project course were very positive. The students designed and implemented larger and more complex scientific workflows than those in the previous years. In the course evaluation they reported that although in the beginning they found it difficult to follow their partner from the other domain, they were impressed how much that improved during the project work, and that they enjoyed and valued this experience. Encouraged by these outcomes, we plan to continue and extend the course concept in the future.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2017 |
| Event | 17th International Conference on Computational Science - ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Duration: 12 Jul 2016 → 14 Jul 2016 http://www.iccs-meeting.org/iccs2017/ |
Conference
| Conference | 17th International Conference on Computational Science |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ICCS 2016 |
| Country/Territory | Switzerland |
| City | Zürich |
| Period | 12/07/16 → 14/07/16 |
| Internet address |