This Thursday we got to participate in Hour of Code. I have also been learning a bit about programming both on my own and at our school's programming club. I had participated in the Hour of Code before, so I was able to go onto a few more challenging exercises, though they were still basic. It was all block coding (as in you were just putting commands written in common language in order rather than writing the actual code out) and had cute little "games" for you to play by programming. Though it was easy, I found it difficult at times, though mostly because I was making stupid mistakes or rushing. The art and color did make it seem a little more fun too, and I can see how it would appeal to people who don't typically code.
The Hour of Code would be very beneficial to beginners in the sense that they will get to try out the problem solving aspect of coding without having to know all of the syntax of JavaScript. It's nice because you can gauge whether or not you will be interested in coding. If Hour of Code bores you, then you probably won't want to start coding full-time, since it will be using the same sort of logic but be more difficult. It even shows the actual code if you want to look at it. Though I doubt most people take advantage of this and actually learn from it, it can be a nice template for similar codes, and an example of good formatting. However, if I ever want to become really good at coding, this simple block coding is not going to be very helpful, at least after the first few times I use it just to learn logic. There are plenty of great online resources that can teach all kinds of different coding languages that are easily accessible. For example, Codecademy has taught me the barebones basics of HTML, Java, and JavaScript. Programming club is also an option for learning Java. However, I am behind on learning since I joined late, and despite my efforts to catch up through Codecademy, Basam said that the lesson had skipped over crucial pieces of information, such as scanners, and that I needed to just work on coding from scratch. However, I don't feel like I have learned enough to begin coding on my own, so I will probably need to either look up a tutorial for scanners or ask for help. Basically what I really need to do is learn all of the basics I need to code on my own, and then just get in a ton of practice. Practice makes perfect they say.
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Recently in Sci-Vis we did the SensorTag data collection project. For my project I collected data on humidity. I have to say, the project sounded a lot cooler than it turned out to be, but I had a feeling this would be the case as I do not typically enjoy data collection activities. Usually it my data is always flawed, or doesn't seem to come to the conclusion that it is supposed to based on the design of the experiment. For this however I am referring to experiments pre-planned by teachers in order to come to specific results in order to teach a lesson. For instance, doing an experiment from a worksheet called "Photosynthesis In Action!" where you count the number of bubbles a water plant produces in different predetermined amounts of light to show that light affects photosynthesis. It was nice to finally do an experiment where my hypothesis wasn't as much of a I think it will work or I think it won't, but was actually a stand alone statement that could be proven or disproved. The experiment was picked by my partner and I (I know it's kind of lame, we chose the first idea we had due to lack of time,) and so we were able to chose what we wanted to learn about. The data, not the teacher, determined what we learned about that topic (humidity). This is more accurate to how real world experiments would be in most cases. Though your topic may be picked by whoever funds you, it would be the experimenters designing the experiment, and interpreting the data. It was more enjoyable than most data collection I've done previously.
However, I found the limitations of the SensorTag very annoying. There was not a wide variety of experiments that we could plausibly conduct within the time frame. The data readings also seemed very inaccurate and I got fairly frustrated that my data wasn't proving or disproving my hypothesis, as was normal for school experiments. I seem to usually get ambiguous data and that is a problem for worksheets teaching you basic science principles. However, after re-examining my data, I realized that though my hypothesis of smaller more isolated spaces having a higher humidity wasn't proved, the data did show that the outdoor humidity greatly affects the indoor humidity. For this assignment, coming to a different conclusion that what I was originally looking for was okay, as long as I addressed the flaw in my original thought. My data still might have been flawed, but I used what I had and hoped that it was at least partially correct. The research paper wasn't too lengthy or tedious, and helped practice with excel. Making an infographic for the data was a nice piece of this assignment too, as it gave me more practice at focusing more on the graphic part since I tend to include too much info. I've heard a lot of people say this part was more stressful than data collection for them, but I wish I had had more time for the latter, and the same amount or a bit less time for the former. I am also excited about presentation. While a lot of people's conclusions will surely be similar since we worked in partnerships, I think it will be nice to present in front of the class to see peer work, and to find out the outcomes of others'experiments. While there wasn't an incredibly wide range of experiments to try, it will be interesting to see what other research we could have done, and if any people who did the same experiment as us reached different conclusions. All in all, it was a good experiment since we got to use an interesting piece of technology and basically had free reign within the hardware's limitations of what we were going to do for out project. I think that having more freedom of choice as a student is very nice. If you couldn't already tell, I have never really considered careers with a lot of experimentation as a career option since I have never liked experiments at school. However, because of the SensorTag Project, despite the flaws it does have, I feel a little more open towards those kinds of careers. With better technology and/or more time to work, I feel like I might not feel so hostile towards experiments. I liked how big of a role data analysis played in the project where we could reach any conclusion, not a preset one. It didn't exactly teach much new material, but it did clarify past lessons and give us practice at collecting data, analyzing it and making a chart for the data, which was useful. If I could change one thing it would be having a bit more time to experiment. I understand that too much time could lead to people slacking off, but I felt overly rushed, and would have actually enjoyed getting to explore a little further across campus. |
AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
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