The Nascent Case for Adopting Jupyter Notebooks as a Pedagogical Tool for Interdisciplinary Humanities, Social Science, and Arts Education

• Published in: Computing in science & engineering Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 107 - 113
• Main Authors: Tan, Chiin-Rui, Broude Geva, Sharon, Colbry, Dirk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.03.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Curricula; Education; Humanities; Interdisciplinary aspects; Interdisciplinary studies; Learning; Modernization; Next generation networking; Pedagogy; Social sciences; Software tools; Teaching; Technical education; Technological innovation
• ISSN: 1521-9615; 1558-366X
• DOI: 10.1109/MCSE.2021.3062199

In education, Jupyter notebooks are established as the gold-standard tool for teaching and learning STEM subjects. However, this article demonstrates the natural fit this technology has beyond classic technical use-cases, in support of wider adoption by educators across the curriculum. The growing efforts to modernize humanities, social science, and art education by leveraging present-day capabilities of computers and data give rise to significant opportunity for the pedagogical exploitation of Jupyter notebooks. In examining available education data relating to the activity of pioneers of this interdisciplinarity who are already utilizing notebooks, we find compelling evidence of the powerful role this Jupyter tool can play in these expanding contemporary use-cases. From the progressive syllabi containing future-relevant content to compelling testimony of some pioneers and a student lauding this technology ability to empower their teaching and learning of these interdisciplinary materials, a case is emerging. Therefore, as innovation of this vein continues in education, this article advocates adoption of Jupyter notebooks as a high-potential pedagogical tool by initiatives offering interdisciplinary studies of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. As decisions that better optimize educational experiences with respect to our increasingly transdisciplinary world can have life-changing repercussions for students, the ambition of this article is to assist educators in choosing the best tools for the job, and ultimately support higher-quality outcomes for those they teach.