Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-npj9w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-08T16:42:46.385Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Commentary: A network science summer course for high-school students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2020

Florian Klimm Open the ORCID record for Florian Klimm [Opens in a new window]  and
Benjamin F. Maier Open the ORCID record for Benjamin F. Maier [Opens in a new window]
Florian Klimm*
Affiliation:
Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, OxfordOX2 6GG, UK; Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles’, OxfordOX1 3LB, UK; Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK; MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK
Benjamin F. Maier
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, D-12489Berlin, Germany; Robert Koch-Institute, Nordufer 20, D-13353Berlin, Germany (e-mail: benjaminfrankmaier@gmail.com)
*
*Corresponding author. Email: f.klimm@gmail.com
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

We discuss a two-week summer course on “Network Science” and “Complex Systems” that we taught for 15 German high-school pupils of ages 16–18. In this course, we covered topics in graph theory, applied network science, programming, and dynamic systems alike. We find that “Network Science” is a well-suited course for introducing students to university-level mathematics. We reflect on difficulties regarding programming exercises and the discussion of more advanced topics in dynamic systems. We make the course material available and encourage fellow network scientists to organize similar outreach events.

Keywords

outreachmathematicsphysicssummer courseteaching

Information

Type
Article Commentary
Information
Network Science , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 596 - 608
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

Footnotes

†

Both authors contributed equally.

References

Bastian, M., Heymann, S., & Jacomy, M. (2009). Gephi: An open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. In International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media.Google Scholar
Cramer, C., Sheetz, L., Sayama, H., Trunfio, P., Stanley, H. E., & Uzzo, S. (2015a). Netsci high: Bringing network science research to high schools. In Mangioni, G., Simini, F., Uzzo, S. M., & Wang, D. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Complex Networks CompleNet 2015 (pp. 209–218). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, C., Porter, M. A., Sayama, H., Sheetz, L., & Uzzo, S. (2015b). Network literacy – essential concepts and core ideas. Retrived fom https://sites.google.com/a/binghamton.edu/netscied/teaching-learning/network-concepts.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, E. W. (1959). A note on two problems in connexion with graphs. Numerische Mathematik, 1(1), 269–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, H. A., Beguerisse-Díaz, M., Rombach, M. P., Keating, L. M., & Porter, M. A. (2013). Commentary: Teach network science to teenagers. Network Science, 1(02), 226–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaminski, J., Schober, M., Albaladejo, R., Zastupailo, O., & Hidalgo, C. (2012). Moviegalaxies-social networks in movies. Consulté sur http://moviegalaxies.com.Google Scholar
Klimm, F., & Maier, B. F. (2017). Teaching material for summer school on network science for high school students. https://github.com/floklimm/DSAMaterialNetworks.Google Scholar
Lohmar, B., & Eckhardt, T. (2014). The education system in the Federal Republic of Germany 2012/2013: A description of the responsibilities, structures and developments in education policy for the exchange of information in Europe. In Bonn: Secretariat of the standing conference of the ministers of education and cultural affairs of the Länder in the federal republic of germany.Google Scholar
Maier, B. F., & Brockmann, D. (2017). Cover time for random walks on arbitrary complex networks. Physical Review E, 96(4), 042307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meinel, C., & Schweiger, S. (2017). openHPI–Das MOOC-Angebot des Hasso-Plattner-Instituts. In Veranstaltungen 4.0 (pp. 195–226). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, M. (2010). Networks: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oswald, H., Allen, J., & Gough, B. (2015). ShareLaTeX, the online LaTeX editor.Google Scholar
Sánchez, A., & Brändle, C. (2014). More network science for teenagers. arxiv preprint arxiv:1403.3618.Google Scholar
Sander, M. 2010 (8). Photography of the monastery school Roßleben. Retrieved from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Klosterschule_Ro%C3%9Fleben.JPG.Google Scholar
Sayama, H., Cramer, C., Porter, M. A., Sheetz, L., & Uzzo, S. (2015). What are essential concepts about networks? Journal of Complex Networks, cnv028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, H. (2004). Physik mit Bleistift. Verlag Harri Deutsch.Google Scholar
Strogatz, S. H. (2012). Friends you can count on. New York Times.Google Scholar
Ulanowicz, R. E., & DeAngelis, D. L. (2005). Network analysis of trophic dynamics in south florida ecosystems. In US geological survey program on the South Florida ecosystem, vol. 114.Google Scholar
Völmicke, E. 2017 (10). Deutsche Schülerakademie.Google Scholar
von Löwis, M. 2017 (10). Spielend Programmieren lernen!Google Scholar
Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, R., Pineau, J., & Precup, D. (2009). Wikispeedia: An online game for inferring semantic distances between concepts. In Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (pp. 1598–1603).Google Scholar