2000 STTS Syllabus

EDUC 544 Special Topics: Supercomputing Challenge Summer Teacher Training Session (STTS)
Credit Hours: 2
Lecture Hours: 1
Lab Hours: 1

Instructor of Record: Eric Ovaska

Los Alamos National Laboratory Instructors: David Kratzer, Joe Watts, Eric Ovaska

Contact Hours: June 19-23, 2000

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 Java; UNIX; 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).

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 computers 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 Java
3. Send electronic mail and use the vi and pico editors
4. Find resources on the Internet
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 Java
2. UNIX
3. E-mail and the vi editor
4. Security, legal terms, ethics
5. File management
6. Challenge project design
7. HTML
8. 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