Lessons Learned from In-Service Teacher Enhancement in Computational Science

SIAM Annual Conference
Kansas City, Mo
July 23,1996
This URL is stewart.sdsu.edu/siam96/ Updated 11July2025

Dr. Kris Stewart (stewart@sdsu.edu)
Associate Professor, Mathematical & Computer Sciences Department
San Diego State Univeristy
San Diego, CA 92182
and
Computational Science Curriculum Coordinator
San Diego Supercomputer Center

Abstract: This poster presents STEP (Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program), an in-service program for high school science and math teachers, with significant underrepresented student populations. STEP was funded by the NSF to provide training on tools and techniques of Computational Science at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. STEP began in 1993 (before NCSA Mosaic "hit the net") and the group has advanced with the times. The participants have developed extensive Web based materials applicable to the high school class room.

Three years of work with teachers has taught this author much that she would like to share. Intensive summer workshops, follow-on Saturday meetings during the academic year and the culminating presentations by the STEP participants at SUPERCOMPUTING '95 were some of the components of the program.

STEP has recently been included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonain Institution on the use and impact of information technology. STEP

HPCCC = High Performance
Computation
Communication
Collaboration


STEP documents from anonymous ftp site
A Discussion -
I would like to mention some projects that provide curricula materials in Computational Science via the Web. These are all dynamic activities involving myself and others, therefore only a snapshot will be presented in these notes. Interested readers are encouraged to go directly to the original source on the WWW, since the materials have undoubtedly changed.

Undergraduate Activities
Supercomputing for the Sciences (SDSU Course)
https://stewart.sdsu.edu/cs575/ One semester, senior level course which takes students with a background in programming and introduces them to high performance computing with a focus on scientific applications.

High Performance Scientific Computing [HPSC]
Overview Scientific Computing 33pgs One year, senior level course sequence at the University of Colorado, Boulder on High Performance Scientific Computing developed by Dr. Lloyd Fosdick and Dr. Elizabeth Jessup.

Undergraduate Computational Science and Engineering [UCES]
UCES at Ames Lab, Ames IA Voluntary, cooperative faculty group sponsored by the Department of Energy to develop undergraduate curricula in computational science. The winners of the 1996 Undergraduate Computational Science Award have been recently announced and are available via the Web.

Introducing Computational Programming & Visualization (SDSU course)
https://stewart.sdsu.edu/cs205/ One semester, sophomore level course which takes students with a math background from freshman calculus and introduces them to C programming and scientific visualization within the MATLAB software environment. The focus is on scientific problem solving through programming and visualization.

Compendium of Computational Science Education Programs
C.D. Swanson - Cray Research Inc. univ
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=0de26bddbaa8038cdd29b187a7e4330a3e8760f1

High School Activities

  • STEP, Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program only available from the Internet Archive, Way Back Machine
    Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program [STEP] is funded by the National Science Foundation and is a project of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). STEP provides an opportunity for high school science teachers to learn about the uses of computational science in the classroom as well as in research.

  • https://stewart.sdsu.edu.edu/smithsonian
    STEP is been included Computerworld/Smithsonian Award Information Technology exhibit, a permanent on-line presentation at the Museum of American History.

  • http://nebbs.nersc.gov/ (no longer available)
    National Education Supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore Labs provides access to the Cray High School Supercomputer. The Web site also provides a wide variety of "simple to use" applications that can run on the Macintosh at a remote site (the high school teacher's classroom, say). These routines interface with the Cray over the network to solve problems in climate modeling, molecular dynamics and more.

    • Final Thoughts
    Talk to "real" people
    A guiding thought that has worked for me is:

    Always have a plan, but be flexible since "stuff happens" that you cannot always control.



    Unfortunately, there is a fine line between deciding that "life has changed and it's time to set a new course" and leading a life that is too scattered to be productive.


    Watch out for "info overload"
    Information technologists are still working on the human interface to information, as well as the human interface to the computer. At the moment, the overwhelming amount of available information available, with little or no facility for peer-reviewed critical evaluation, puts a tremendous burden on the seeker of information. This may be a student, or faculty member, or staff member.
    stewart.sdsu.edu/infolab/

    return to Kris' home page