Some uses of computational notebooks that will be discussed at the webinars include:
Computational Essays
Computational Essays
A computational essay is storytelling with computation. Stephen Wolfram explains the idea in this blog post.
A computational essay may be used to create notes or study material for your lesson. For example, if you are teaching a class on earthquakes, here is an extract from a computational essay that could be used for your lecture:
The Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire
The “Ring of Fire” is a geographical region surrounding the Pacific Ocean where 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The earthquakes recorded in this decade with magnitude 5 or above on the Richter scale can be mapped to see if they indeed coincide with the “Ring of Fire.”
Get data for all the earthquakes recorded between 2010 and now:
In[]:=
data=Values[EarthquakeData[All,5,{{2010,1,1},Today}]];
The number of earthquakes recorded in this time period:
In[]:=
Length[data]
Out[]=
25730
Get the geographical positions of these earthquakes:
In[]:=
positions=#["Position"]&/@data;
Take a peek at the first five data points:
In[]:=
positions[[1;;5]]
Out[]=
{GeoPosition[{42.4154,-30.5129}],GeoPosition[{-24.3242,-179.827}],GeoPosition[{-20.0197,-175.316}],GeoPosition[{38.53,71.47}],GeoPosition[{38.2252,71.5068}]}
Plot them on a map of the world:
In[]:=
GeoGraphics[{Red,Point[positions]}]
Out[]=
Zoom in on the region around the Pacific Ocean:
In[]:=
GeoGraphics{Red,Point[positions]},GeoCenter["CenterCoordinates"],GeoRange10000000
Out[]=
From the preceding visualization, you can see that indeed a large number of earthquakes recorded in this decade occurred in the region designated as the “Ring of Fire.”
Students can also be asked to compose computational essays to report the results of their research on the topic. Here is an extract from a computational essay a student might create to report on recent earthquakes in Hawaii:
Earthquakes in Hawaii in 2018
Earthquakes in Hawaii in 2018
The islands of Hawaii are among the most seismically active regions of the world. This essay explores the recent occurrences of earthquakes in the region.
Get data on the earthquakes of magnitude 4 and above reported in Hawaii for the month of July:
In[]:=
hawaiiEarthquakes=EarthquakeData,3,{{2018,7,1},{2018,7,31}},"Magnitude"
Out[]=
EventSeries
The preceding error message only means that there was more than one earthquake on certain dates.
Number of earthquakes recorded at magnitude 3 or above:
In[]:=
hawaiiEarthquakes["PathLength"]
Out[]=
1466
Plot the magnitude of the earthquakes against the dates:
In[]:=
DateListPlot[hawaiiEarthquakes,Filling0,JoinedFalse,PlotRangeFull]
Out[]=
Observation: From the preceding plot, you can hypothesize that often an earthquake of higher magnitude (5 or above in this data) is preceded by a number of earthquakes of lower magnitude.
Access to Built-in Curated Computable Knowledge
The extensive collection of built-in data in the Wolfram Knowledgebase can be easily accessed from notebooks to enhance lesson plans.
Many real-world objects are represented as computable entities in the Wolfram Language. These entities have properties that can be explored to obtain information about the object. Here is an example of using the “Volcano” entity:
Press Ctrl + = and then type in the name of the most active volcano in Hawaii—Kilauea:
Check for the available properties of the “Volcano” entity to see what sort of information is available on the volcano:
In[]:=
Out[]=
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
In[]:=
Out[]=
In[]:=
hawaiiVolcanoes=GeoEntities,"Volcano";
In[]:=
GeoGraphics[GeoMarker[#,#["Image"]]&/@hawaiiVolcanoes]
Out[]=
It is also possible to access Wolfram|Alpha directly from the notebook in order to obtain more detailed information as well as computable data on specific topics. Here is an example of querying Wolfram|Alpha about “volcanoes in Hawaii” :
Send a query to Wolfram|Alpha and import the output:
Where to Go Next
Visit the Classroom Resources & Instruction page on Wolfram U and browse free video courses to learn more about:
Visit the Wolfram for Education site for more information on which offering is best suited for your needs.
Happy exploring!