Abstract

Learning to program is challenging enough for structural engineering students without the complexity of using a textbook with examples from unfamiliar engineering and scientific fields. Moreover, the open-source nature of Python means each library has a separate documentation website to navigate, discern what functions are useful, and how to implement them.

The idea of a senior project to develop a Python manual tailored to structural engineering students came from the authors’ experiences in three structural analysis/dynamics computing labs in Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo’s architectural engineering (ARCE) curriculum. The team recognized the barriers, lack of confidence, and frustration that learners faced with existing programming resources. To determine the topics necessary to best support students in the labs and later in structural design industry, two pre-project surveys were conducted with upper class students and industry practitioners respectively.

This led to a 24-chapter document on Python programming topics, including libraries for numerical and symbolic mathematics (NumPy, SciPy, SymPy) and creation of tabular and plot outputs for communicating results in technical reports (Pandas, Matplotlib). The manual includes explanations, graphics, and examples related to structural engineering for students to follow and apply to coursework, along with exposure to industry usage. A complete draft of the manual was implemented in the Fall 2023 offering of the first computing lab. Student comments were collected throughout the course and formal surveys were conducted at the end of the quarter. This feedback led to significant revisions of the document that was ultimately published for public use in December 2023 via Cal Poly @ Digital Commons.

This paper summarizes pre-and-post project survey results, develop process and content of the Python manual, as well as outcomes of the senior project team that worked to educate and motivate their peers to program in Python.

Disciplines

Architectural Engineering

Number of Pages

20

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/aen_fac/158