EDUC 501 Special Topics: Supercomputing Challenge Summer Teacher Training Session (STTS)
Credit Hours: 3
Lecture Hours: 2
Lab Hours: 1

Instructor of Record: Dr. Karin Wiburg, College of Education

Los Alamos National Laboratory Instructors: Gina Fisk, Chris Karr, David Kratzer

Contact Hours: June 6-18, 1999

Catalog Description

Preparatory course for teachers in the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge. A basic introductory course of supercomputing for those students who have little or no computing background. Topics will include e-mail; the vi and pico editors; programming in C++; UNIX; an introduction to computer graphics; Challenge project design; HTML; and other Internet and World Wide Web applications. The course will also give students an overview of the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge, its expectations and goals. Students will be introduced to computer scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Students will complete a final paper, project, or program that will be presented on the last day of the session with a HTML version of the report placed on the web the week after the course finishes.

Course Objectives

  1. To provide an overview of programming, UNIX, and the Internet.
  2. To prepare students to return to their high schools and teach and/or help high school students understand programming, UNIX, and the Internet/WWW.
  3. To familiarize students with the supercomputers used by the New Mexico High School Supercomputing Challenge.
  4. To introduce students to the world of high performance computing through lecture and hands-on lab experience.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:

  1. Know and use UNIX essentials
  2. Write structured programs using C++
  3. Send electronic mail and use the vi and pico editors
  4. Find resources on the Internet using Netscape
  5. Develop and maintain a home page using HTML
  6. Design classroom applications using the Internet, WWW, HTML, and other computer science programs and applications.

Major topics to be studied

  1. Programming in C++
  2. UNIX
  3. E-mail and the vi editor
  4. The Internet using Netscape
  5. Computer graphics
  6. Security, legal terms, ethics
  7. File management
  8. Challenge project design
  9. HTML
  10. Educational Resources on the Internet

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Homework and lab assignments
  2. Quizzes and Tests
  3. Class participation
  4. Final project report
  5. Final project web page