This repository houses materials used at the 2019 CSDMS annual meeting, in a clinic called "Developing and teaching interactive sedimentology and stratigraphy computer activities".
Hi everyone, and thanks for signing up for my clinic! For some of the the clinic I will demonstrate and explain how these modules work and can be used in a classroom. However, I really want the session to be mostly interactive, which means you will need a laptop with the proper software installed. We will spend the better part of the session with you coding on your laptops, creating your own module.
Please see below for instructions on installing Python and testing your software before the clinic. This will help optimize our time together.
If you don't have a laptop that is completely fine. You will be able to follow on with a partner and complete the work together. You will still learn how to create the modules!
All the materials will be made available online, so you can access them later, on your own computer, on your own time.
The development of these modules depends on Python 3, tkinter, and the Python packages numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and shapely.
If you have Python, and these packages, you can skip below to "Testing the installation and modules".
If you are new to Python, I recommended that you install Anaconda, which is an open source distribution of Python which includes many basic scientific libraries, some of which are used in the module. If you already have Python and know how to use it, you can skip below to trying out the activity. Anaconda can be downloaded at https://www.anaconda.com/download/ for Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you do not have storage space on your machine for Anaconda or wish to install a smaller version of Python for another reason, see how to install Miniconda here.
- Visit the website for Anaconda https://www.anaconda.com/download/ and select the installer for your operating system. Be sure to select the Python 3.x installation.
- Start the installer.
- If prompted, select to "install just for me", unless you understand how the alternative will modify your system.
- When prompted to add Anaconda to the path during installation, select yes. iI you currently use Python for something on your computer, you may need to select no, or the Anaconda installation will supersede your existing Python installation (in that case select no).
To install the needed packages, we will use a terminal or the Anaconda Prompt. On Mac and Linux you can use the terminal provided with the operating system, on Windows you will need to use the Anaconda Prompt (find it in your start menu). Enter the command:
conda install numpy scipy matplotlib shapelyType "y" and hit "Enter" when prompted.
Note: if you wish to use pip instead, that should be fine too. You can pip install numpy scipy matplotlib shapely.
There are many ways you can develop with Python on your computer; the three most popular (I think) are:
- IPython with Spyder -- this is an environment similar to Matlab, with everything in one window, and a terminal in the bottom you can interact with. the "I" in IPython means interactive.
- IPython with Jupyter notebooks -- this is kind of like a notebook page from high-school where you have notes and little figures next to one another. In Jupyter notebooks, you can write code snippets and the associated graphs will pop up. These are really useful for teaching.
- any text editor and a terminal -- this is just using some text-editing program (like Notepad, TextEdit, Atom, or Sublime) to write Python code, and then switching to a terminal to run that code.
You can use any of these methods for our clinic, however, I recommend using Spyder. I will run the tutorial using Spyder, because I think this is the most friendly environment for people who are new to Python, especially if they have experience with Matlab. A second best choice would be to use a text editor and terminal.
I do not suggest using Jupyter notebooks for development, because I think they will slow you down and unnecessarily complicate things, due to the nature in which they compile step-by-step. Further, to incorporate a module with SedEdu, your module must be a script file and cannot be a Jupyter notebook.
Please do the following before coming to the clinic
- Download the GitHub repository you are reading this file in: press the green "Clone or download" button, select "Download ZIP", and navigate to the download and unzip it.
- Go ahead and launch Spyder (or your text editor)
- type
%matplotlib qtinto the "console" panel in Spyder (lower right corner) and press enter. - Using "file>open" in Spyder, open the file in the downloaded folder
./CSDMS_clinic-master/interactive_gui_demo/interactive_gui_demo.py. - Press the green "run" button at the top of the Spyder window and see that the module pops up, and is interactive. If using a terminal, you will run the command
python <path-to-downloads>/CSDMS_clinic-master/interactive_gui_demo/interactive_gui_demo.py.
That's it, if you are successful to that point, you will be ready to go at the clinic! If you are having trouble, please email me (amoodie@rice.edu) and we will get it sorted out before the clinic.
NOTE: for running any of these interactive module codes in Spyder, you must run the following line as the first thing after you open the Spyder window:
%matplotlib qtIf you are just so excited for this clinic and you can't contain yourself, you can read an explanation of the code that you just ran, as a Jupyter notebook. We will go through this notebook during the demonstration portion of the clinic, so you don't need to grasp everything, but reading it ahead of time may make things easier for you during the clinic.
To run a Jupyter notebook just type:
jupyter notebookinto your terminal (MacOS and Linux) or the Anaconda Prompt (Windows).
This will launch a web browser, and you can navigate to and open the notebook (in the folder you downloaded, ./CSDMS_clinic-master/interactive_gui_demo/CSDMS_interactive_gui_demo.ipynb).
Once in the notebook, press "Shift+Enter" to run a cell and move down the page.
You can also just read the materials online here, but you won't be able to interact with the plot. Finally, if you know how to use Google's Colaboratory, you can upload the notebook there and run through it, without having to install any software at all.
You can access the slides I will present here or as a pdf here.
Please download a fresh copy of this repository to use in the clinic. I recommend you to delete the older folder from your "downloads" folder before downloading the new one. Be sure to unzip the folder.
In this clinic, we will first demonstrate existing interactive computer-based activities used for teaching concepts in sedimentology and stratigraphy. This will be followed by a hands-on session for creating different modules based on the participants’ teaching and research interests. Active learning strategies improve student exam performance, engagement, attitudes, thinking, writing, self-reported participation and interest, and help students become better acquainted with one another (Prince, 2004). Specifically, computer-based active learning is an attractive educational approach for post-secondary educators, because developing these activities takes advantage of existing knowledge and skills the educator is likely to already have.
The demonstration portion of the clinic will focus on the existing rivers2stratigraphy (https://github.com/sededu/rivers2stratigraphy) activity, which illustrates basin-scale development of fluvial stratigraphy through adjustments in system kinematics including sandy channel migration and subsidence rates. The activity allows users to change these system properties, so as to drive changing depositional patterns. The module utilizes a rules based model, which produces realistic channel patterns, but simplifies the simulation to run efficiently, in real-time. The clinic will couple rivers2stratigraphy to a conventional laboratory activity which interprets an outcrop photograph of fluvial stratigraphy, and discuss logistics of using the module in the classroom.
For the second part of the clinic, familiarity with Python will be beneficial (but is not required); we will utilize existing graphical user interface (GUI) frameworks in developing new activities, aimed to provide a user-friendly means for students to interact with model codes while engaging in geological learning. Participants should plan to have Python installed on their personal computers prior to the workshop, and a sample module will be emailed beforehand to let participants begin exploring the syllabus.
Prince, M. (2004). Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-231. doi: 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x.