Proceedings of the Erasmus Scientific Days 2022 (ESD 2022)

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Jupyter Notebooks as Computational Thinking Tools for Teaching and Lifelong Learning in Biotechnology

Authors
R. Lebrón1, *, A. Ortiz-Atienza1, S. Bretones1, C. Capel1, F. J. Yuste-Lisbona1, A. Cámara-Artigas2
1Center for Research in Agri-Food Biotechnology (CIAIMBITAL), University of Almeria, 04120, Almería, Spain
2Dept. Chemistry and Physics, ceiA3, University of Almeria, 04120, Almería, Spain
*Corresponding author. Email: rlebron@ual.es
Corresponding Author
R. Lebrón
Available Online 16 May 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-036-7_16How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Literate programming; Computational thinking; Lifelong learning; Online teaching; Biotechnology
Abstract

To remain operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions had to rapidly migrate to online learning, affecting 1.6 billion students worldwide. This unexpected scenario required extra effort for teachers and students, but it also provided an opportunity to encourage students to develop new skills, such as computational thinking, and to foster lifelong and autonomous learning. Computational thinking is not only one of the cornerstones of programming, but scientists from all disciplines use it to solve problems even when they are not programming. Literate programming is a paradigm that facilitates the acquisition of these skills by combining explanatory texts in natural language with executable code snippets and their output to familiarize a broad public with how code works and the reasoning behind it. These tools are known as interactive notebooks, with the Jupyter Notebook platform standing out for its simplicity, support for multiple programming languages, and ability to be used online. In this paper, we share our experience with Jupyter notebooks for teaching biotechnology, highlighting the pedagogical patterns we have found most useful to foster computational thinking among students with no prior programming background and providing tips to help extend the use of these tools in teaching.

Research Contribution: In fast-paced, ever-changing research and industries, the ability to face new challenges is essential. To assist biotechnology students in becoming problem solvers and critical thinkers, we propose an approach based on the development of computational thinking skills using interactive notebooks as training materials.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the Erasmus Scientific Days 2022 (ESD 2022)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities
Publication Date
16 May 2023
ISBN
10.2991/978-2-38476-036-7_16
ISSN
2667-128X
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-036-7_16How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - R. Lebrón
AU  - A. Ortiz-Atienza
AU  - S. Bretones
AU  - C. Capel
AU  - F. J. Yuste-Lisbona
AU  - A. Cámara-Artigas
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/05/16
TI  - Jupyter Notebooks as Computational Thinking Tools for Teaching and Lifelong Learning in Biotechnology
BT  - Proceedings of the Erasmus Scientific Days 2022 (ESD 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 167
EP  - 175
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-036-7_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-036-7_16
ID  - Lebrón2023
ER  -