Computational Teaching and Learning (25w2027)

The Banff International Research Station will host the “Computational Teaching and Learning” workshop in Banff from May 23 - 25, 2025.

Computational thinking is the process of formulating problems and their solutions in ways that a computer can implement, and computational teaching is the set of instructional practices designed for computational thinking. Computational teaching and learning have always been an important part of undergraduate mathematics education however student access to expensive computational resources has been very limiting.

Web-based, open-source computational resources are now more widely available than ever. Python is a general purpose programming language and Jupyter is a web-based development environment for creating computational documents. We propose to develop new modes of teaching and learning based on Python and Jupyter which promote computational thinking and which complement the current undergraduate mathematics curriculum.

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is a collaborative Canada-US-Mexico venture that provides an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the Mathematical Sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station is located at The Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology.