MATLAB-Based Course Development for Marine Science Majors
"Explore the development of a MATLAB-based course for marine science majors at Stockton University. Discover the motivation behind the course, its content, topics covered in MATLAB, grading scheme, and areas for improvement. Dive into data visualization, theory, project presentations, and more to enhance students' quantitative skills."
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Presentation Transcript
Development of a MATLAB-based course for marine science majors Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert Stockton University
Motivation for a new computational course Department goal of improving quantitative skills of graduates Comfort with software beyond MS Office Marketable skills Learning goals: Students can load data compute descriptive statistics make well-designed figures
Course content Data visualization theory & technique Mastery of Matlab basics Assignments & class discussions Self-paced modules Project Poster presentation
Topics covered in Matlab Vectors, matrices, indexing Using functions File i/o and basic plotting Conditional statements For loops Strings, structures, cell arrays Datetime arrays Sequential modules: Reference material Practice problems Problem set
Grading scheme Excellent Complete Incomplete No incorrect or incomplete answers Minor incorrect or incomplete answers One or more questions omitted or wrong Completeness Script runs with no errors, all output matches specifications Script runs with no errors, >90% matches specs Script produces an error, <90% matches specs Correctness Script has a header, thorough annotation, formatted for readability Script has a header and sufficient comments to document procedure Lacks a header or insufficient comments Documentation Reflection paragraph on what was learned and how it can be applied in other contexts Paragraph summarizes skills covered No reflection paragraph Learning reflection
Things that did not work well Revised plan Fully self-paced modules with open deadlines Mid-semester deadline and weekly suggested deadlines No lecture Mini-lecture on topic of the week Student progress reports to class Weekly written progress reports & questions Motivation and retention Examples of prior student success, added familiar data Spring 2017: 16 registered, 69% retention Spring 2018: 11 registered, 91% retention Fall 2019: 20 registered
Ongoing challenges Balance of lecture and individual work time Use of textbook and practice problems (vs. Google) Access to Matlab outside of class Email: Anna.Pfeiffer-Herbert@stockton.edu
