Impact of integrating computation into undergraduate curriculum: New modules and long-term trends
Impact of integrating computation into undergraduate curriculum: New modules and long-term trends
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DOI：
10.18260/1-2--34754
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发表时间：
2020-06
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通讯作者：
Grace M. Lu;D. Trinkle;A. Schleife;Cecilia Leal;J. Krogstad;C. Maass;P. Bellon;Pinshane Y. Huang;N. Perry;Matthew West;Timothy Bretl;Geoffrey L. Herman
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作者：
Grace M. Lu;D. Trinkle;A. Schleife;Cecilia Leal;J. Krogstad;C. Maass;P. Bellon;Pinshane Y. Huang;N. Perry;Matthew West;Timothy Bretl;Geoffrey L. Herman
计算方法在学术界和工业界都得到越来越多的应用。在伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳尚潘分校，材料科学与工程系（MSE），作为大学资助的教育创新计划的一部分，自2014年以来，在其本科课程中整合了计算。在本课程中，学生被要求在所有必修课程和一些选修课中使用计算工具解决与他们的课程有关的实际问题。部分是为了回应学生的反馈，我们已经扩大了我们目前的课程，包括更多的计算模块。一个计算模块被添加到新生介绍材料科学与工程类;因此，学生将有望从他们的第一年起使用计算工具。在本文中，我们调查了目前正在学习综合计算课程的学生，以探索多年来逐渐向学生介绍编程以及宏观和微观模拟的影响。我们调查了学生的信心水平，他们对计算工具的态度，以及他们对我们的课程改革的满意度。我们还更新了我们的调查，使其在班级之间更加详细和一致，以帮助进一步改进我们的MSE课程。
Computational methods have become increasingly used in both academia and industry. At the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), as part of a university-funded educational innovation program, has integrated computation throughout its undergraduate courses since 2014. Within this curriculum, students are asked to solve practical problems related to their coursework using computational tools in all required courses and some electives. Partly in response to feedback from students, we have expanded our current curriculum to include more computational modules. A computational module was added to the freshman Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering class; thus, students will be expected to use computational tools from their first year onwards. In this paper, we survey students who are currently taking courses with integrated computation to explore the effects of gradually introducing students to programming as well as both macro-and micro-scale simulations over multiple years. We investigate the improving confidence level of students, their attitude towards computational tools, and their satisfaction with our curriculum reform. We also updated our survey to be more detailed and consistent between classes to aid in further improvements of our MSE curriculum.