An interdisciplinary effort to integrate coding into science courses

The inclusion of computation in undergraduate STEM curricula varies widely, ranging from none at all to fully dedicated courses. We believe that building cyberinfrastructure skills within physical science courses would enhance domain-specific learning objectives and increase student understanding and engagement1,2,3. Programming within a science course, rather than in a standalone coding class, gives students a better understanding of the context for applying computational tools4,5,6.

In line with this teaching strategy, we established Enhancing Science Courses by Integrating Python (ESCIP), a collaborative initiative that promotes the teaching of cyberinfrastructure skills within standard science courses. Python was chosen because it is a widely used, open-source programming language that is common to the scientific research community of physicists, chemists and astronomers, which are the disciplines supported by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s Cottrell Scholars program. ESCIP has evolved from an initial team of eight early-career faculty members to a network of more than 177 scientists with an active Slack channel and a website with teaching resources.