Blog Post #8: Final Seminar Project Write -Up and Documentation

I designed and developed a new environmental project called ‘Global Warming’ this semester in my MAT 120-Elementary Statistic and MAT 121-Statistic II class using SPSS/Microsoft Excel as a DH simulation and visualization tool. These themes are undeniably going to put math in action, with community environmental applications such as the impact of the effects of global warming.

The pedagogical objective of this project is to introduce elementary statistics students to essential topics of statistics such as correlation and regression analysis, curve fitting and polynomial models using an environmental (global warming) theme as a framework. This project gives students a chance to explore in detail some issues related to global warming such as CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions and rising global average temperature. The objective of this specific project is to enhance students’ skills in mathematical and statistical modeling, particularly modeling using polynomials of first through third degree and the quality of curve fit. Using CO₂ gas emission visualization data obtained from the Data Visualization link (http://www.eia.gov; United States US Energy Information Administration) students construct a model for polynomials of first (linear), second and third degrees to predict CO₂ emissions. 

As a starting point, this project provided students the world map of CO2 emissions data in table-1  

(http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=90&pid=45&aid=8&cid=regions&syid=1980&eyid=2010&unit=MMTCD).https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AonYZs4MzlZbdGNQcEtMeF9VSzZvU3FOQ0F4V3pDbFE#gid=0.) and carbon web (http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/world-carbon-dioxide-emissions-country-data-co2 ) under the category of the environment from Data Visualization links using Google Earth as a DH data visualization tools.

 This was an introductory step so students can get trained in handling given data using Google Earth and what can be done with it. In addition the project introduced SPSS/Excel as a DH simulation tool to show how a concept, mainly a statistical concept, can be achieved via modeling, graphing and reflecting on the findings. The goal is to have the students explore, investigate and research widely available databases once they are comfortable with the idea of using the data to learn the statistical concept. Specifically, in the first part of this project, students were asked to use the above link to construct a table for CO₂ emissions for USA and the World over time. They were also asked to construct another table showing population in at least 10 countries, and carbon emissions per person. Using the collected data, students used polynomial modeling to predict the level of CO₂ emissions after 10, 20 and 30 years. In addition, students were also able to examine the relationship between population and carbon emissions per capita. For example, students constructed a linear regression model and curve fitting using SPSS/Excel and used a linear regression equation to predict the level of CO₂ emissions after 10, 20 and 30 years ( see the attached student sample).

In this project, the students were introduced a video of New York carbon emission related to global warming and how carbon emissions affect globally to increase the temperature (http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/oct/25/carbon-emissions-new-york). 

This project also introduced how much global warming has raised local temperatures in your area or elsewhere on the globe using Google Earth. The Google Earth interface shows in the following figures  how the globe has been split into latitude and longitude grid boxes. Clicking on a grid box reveals the area's annual temperatures, as well as links to more detailed downloadable station data.

Curious about how much global warming has caused temperatures around New York City to rise? Just click on the grid in Google Earth and a graph pops up showing flat temperatures from 1900 to 1990 followed by a nearly 1°C rise over the past 25 years.

(i)http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per cent/2014/feb/04/global-warming-google-earth-uea;

(ii) http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/crutem/ge/CRUTEM4-2013-03_gridboxes.kml

Wondering how much the area around Kyoto, Japan has warmed in recent decades? The answer again is just a click away, and shows a rate of warming.

Students used SPSS/Excel to manipulate the given data and to model the curve that best fits the values of the data enabling them to accurately describe the relationship between atmospheric variables. The students were exposed to the science of the atmosphere studies and global climate change to learn modeling using linear equations. Based on the students’ feedback, it appeared that they loved the term-project and they got more engaged during the process. This is due to the fact that they looked and searched for the data using visualization link such as Google Earth, Google Earth @ NOAA and throughout this process they learned a lot more about the theme and the specific topic of the project. This was expected and this is one of the reasons that I designed the course with one project with given data and a long-term project that can be done on multiple phases or parts. For the next semester, I will re-design the project to be a semester-long project such that it can be divided into multiple phases.

At the same time, and as an effort to test the DH technique and the readiness of the developed materials and the ease of re-use, I will attempt to incorporate some visualization database applications in other courses. For example, since not all the concepts that are used in MAT 120/MAT 121 can be used in every other course, I will use some of the concepts that are introduced in multiple parts or phases of the projects and I will incorporate them in MAT 115 and my engineering courses MAE 103 (i.e., Computer-Aided Analysis Tools for Engineers using MATLAB) and MAE 106 (Introduction to Earth System & Engineering/Science) in Fall 2014 using Excel.

I have already designed and developed three DH projects in a Spring I, 2014, MAE 213-Electrical Circuits Course under the category of simulations and visualizations. The objective of these projects is to use Multisim software simulation and Matlab software tools as DH tools (visualization /simulation) to solve electric circuits problems that require computer simulations and visualization will increase student’s understanding of electrical circuit theories and concepts. The advantage of this is that Multisim will help students visualize and simulate their electrical circuits problem schematically whereas Matlab helps students solve problems by simulating the working of the circuit itself. I had a plan to implement these projects in this semester. Due to cancelation of my class in this semester, I am unable to implement of this activity in my current MAE 213 class. Hopefully I will do so next semester.

Student Sample:

Blog Post #7: Exploring a Data Visualization

I explored “The world map of CO2 emissions” under the category of the environment from Data Visualization Links. This project, designed by Craig Bloodworth of the Information Lab, provides me with a way to navigate the latest US Energy Information Administration(EIA) data. I tried to find a video using Google Earth for a world map of CO₂ emission but I didn’t find any video through the visualization link. But this project helped me find out the most recent carbon dioxide emission data for different countries in the world. I downloaded data using excel from US Energy Information Administration (http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=90&pid=45&aid=8&cid=regions&syid=1980&eyid=2010&unit=MMTCD).https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AonYZs4MzlZbdGNQcEtMeF9VSzZvU3FOQ0F4V3pDbFE#gid=0.  Using this website we can find up-to-date visualized CO₂ emission data for different countries and continents in the world. If you are interested to use this data in your class please visit this website.  I introduced the data this week for the Global Warming project in Elementary Statistic class.

I have already designed and developed a project called “Global Warming” using this data in my MAT 120-Elementary Statistic Class. The pedagogical objective of this project is to give the students a chance to explore in details some issues related to global warming such as CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions. The objective of this specific project is to enhance students’ skills in mathematical modeling, particularly modeling using polynomials of first through third degree and the quality of curve fit. Using CO₂ gas emission visualization data obtained from the US EIA database, students will learn how to model and construct a polynomial function to predict CO₂ emissions using polynomials of first (linear), second and third degrees. Using CO₂ data obtained from the Data Visualization link (http://www.eia.gov) students did some preliminary work for this project. Students constructed a linear regression model and curve fit using SPSS and used a linear regression equation to predict the level of CO2 emissions after 10, 20 and 30 years. For your consideration, I provided one student sample in the following figures though the student didn’t complete project yet. Hopefully, I will provide you with some completed students sample work in the next seminar, along with students’ reflections.

I also introduced in my class some related videos regarding global warming called “New York's Carbon Emissions Visualized” (Dr. Richard showed this video last seminar) and “Carbon dioxide emissions map released on Google Earth” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAUf1bRIFxM). My personal communication with students gave me the impression that they enjoyed learning about global warming.

Blog Post #6

I like this place. This is my home country in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. I didn't finish my project yet.

Blog Post #5: Exploring a Mapping/GIS Project

I choose a topic called ‘Global Warming’ from Google Earth @ NOAA for this assignment. The Google Earth format allowed me to scroll around the world, zoom  on specific countries such as USA, Russia and UK and seasonal and annual temperature data more easily than ever before. We can see how much global warming has raised local temperatures in your area or elsewhere on the glove using Google Earth.  The Google Earth interface shows how the globe has been split into latitude and longitude grid boxes. Clicking on a grid box reveals the area's annual temperatures, as well as links to more detailed downloadable station data.

Curious about how much global warming has caused temperatures around the winter Olympics venues near Sochi, Russia to rise? Just click on the grid in Google Earth and a graph pops up showing flat temperatures from 1900 to 1990 followed by a nearly 1°C rise over the past 25 years.

Wondering how much the area around London has warmed in recent decades? The answer again is just a click away, and shows a similar rate of warming to that near Sochi, Russia.

Wondering how much the area around New York City has warmed in recent decades? The answer again is just a click away, and shows a rate of warming.

Currently, I am planning to implement Global Warming project in my statistic class. The objective of this project is to enhance students’ skills in statistical and mathematical modeling, particularly modeling using polynomials of first through third degree. This project will give the students a chance to explore in details some issues related to global warming such as global average temperature raised,  CO₂ (carbon dioxide) and CH₄ (methane) emissions. Using Global Average Temperature data obtained from the Google Earth, students will learn to calculate mean, standard deviation, variance, and construct a regression line to predict temperature using SPSS software. I believe that the Google Earth Layer will increase our students’ awareness of current issues such as global warming and how they are related to mathematics and statistics hence 'visualizing math and statistics topics.'

Blog Post #4-Seminar Project Planning

I designed and developed three DH projects in Spring I, 2014, MAE 213-Electrical Circuits Course under the category of simulations and visualizations. The objective of these projects is to use Multisim software simulation and Matlab software tools as DH tools (visualization /simulation) to solve electric circuits problems that require computer simulations and visualization will increase student’s understanding of electrical circuit theories and concepts. The advantage of this is that Multisim will help students visualize and simulate their electrical circuits problem schematically whereas Matlab helps students solve problems by simulating the working of the circuit itself. I had a plan to implement these projects in this semester. Due to cancellation of my class in this semester, I am unable to implement of this activity in my current MAE 213 class. Hopefully I will do so next semester.

Currently, I am teaching Statistics in this semester. Therefore, I am planning to create one project called ‘Global Warming’ in this semester in my statistic class using SPSS as a DH simulation tool.  This project will give students a chance to explore in detail some issues related to global warming such as CO₂ (carbon dioxide) and CH₄ (methane) emissions. Using green house gas emission data obtained from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), students will construct linear, quadratic, and multiple linear regression models using SPSS, and use a linear regression model to predict CO₂ and CH₄ emissions. This strategy will increase student’s understanding of statistical theories and concepts. 

Eventually, we can use Wordle and Voyant tools as text analysis tools in engineering and math classes for reading some particular topics in textbooks or technical papers, writing project reports, publishing the results of research in a journal, and, finally, presenting the research in national/international conferences.  Furthermore, students in these courses (i.e MAE 213, MAT 120 and MAT 096) are required to deposit their projects in E-portfolio. In this circumstance, students need to write a one or two page reflection about their project. Also, some students are eager to work and do some relevant research in the engineering field. I think these tools (Wordle, Voyant) would provide the students with an advantage to completing and rounding off their learning experience.

Blog Post #3-Exploring Text visualization Tools

I choose a novel called ‘A short history of Rhode Island’ from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) for this task. I created a word cloud for this assignment using Wordle. I modified this image using color and layout icons and posted in PLS. I also created a visualization of the same corpus using Voyant visualization tools. It was not difficult to use this tool to reveal this corpus. It took some times to reveal the whole novel. This tool helped me to find some keywords that played a very important role in the novel. We can list the frequency (how many times each word is used in this story) of words using this tool. One of the most important characteristics of this tool is the ability to show shifting word frequencies of multiple terms. We can graph for different words using this tool. For example, I graphed words like ‘Williams’, ‘colony,’ and ‘plymouth’ for this task using this tool. We can also compare patterns of graph using this tool, which would be very helpful for our students. Students can analyze different kinds of keywords using Voyant tools.  I am teaching an electrical engineering course (MAE 213) in which students need to solve problems (e.g. identify problems, present topics, analyze problems, attempt problem solutions, respond to problems, think carefully, or evaluate alternatives). As a requirement of this course students need to do some projects using simulation/visualization tools such as Multisim, Matlalab, and Pspice to build their carrier in a professional way. For these purposes students need to write one or two page reflections of what they learned from their project so they can deposit their project in E-portfolio. Some students are also interested in working in research related to the electrical engineering area. I think this tool is very useful for students who are interested in writing a project report in class, publishing their research in journal or presenting their research in national and international conferences.

Challenge and Opportunities in the Digital Humanities

I went through the "Print Scholarship and Digital resources" article. Author mentioned that “the the realm of the visual that we are considering some of the most interesting interrelationships of print scholarship and digital resources.” Author also mentioned that “while much of this knowledge has been lost in the textual obsession of print culture, the graphical interface of the computer screen has helped us reconnect to the world of the visual and recognize that we can relearn a long-neglected vocabulary of interpretation.” I agree with author ideas. But I realize that visualization is a challenge for the humanities scholarship. In engineering science research, the phrase visualization explicates the field of study that uses interactive graphical tools to explore and present graphically a represented 2D/3D diagram or digitally represented data that might be simulated, constructed, measured, or analyzed. Visualization is usually taught in undergraduate and graduate-level courses in the engineering science area. The focus is on teaching students who are already versed in computer systems and technology how to create innovative information visualization tools.  Students in such classes typically create a project, which serves as a basis for their grade in the course. Visualization is a skill that must be practiced for simplicity, and that takes time. Engineering schools teach courses using virtual lab such as Matlab, Multisim, Pspice, and Electronic workbench by making students construct, design, analyze, simulate and redesign. Therefore, I am planning to teach an undergraduate course called electric circuit course using Multisim to solve electric circuit problems that require computer simulation and visualization in order to increase students’ understanding of electrical circuit theories and concepts. May be it an enormous challenge for me to select the material to teach this course using Multisim. Should the course focus exclusively on electric circuits diagram visualization? Can Multisim simulation software provide adequate experience for all these students? Will the software experience sufficiently reinforce concepts such as electric circuit theory?