Advice on giving a python course

[Richard P. Muller]

I will be giving a short course on Python to my research group
(computational chemistry and materials science). I would like to raise
the average level of programming ability in our group, so that more
people can take on the "hard" programming projects that until now have
only been undertaken by a few of the better programmers.

I had anticipated having 5-6 people show up in the group, but was
overwhelmed with 20 people responding, which is both exciting and
intimidating.

Since I'm sure other people on this list have taught similar courses, I
was wondering if I could get some helpful suggestions, and/or feedback
on the way I've structured the course.

The web page for the course is at:
http://www.wag.caltech.edu/home/rpm/python_course/

The slides for the first lecture are at:
http://www.wag.caltech.edu/home/rpm/python_course/Lecture_1.pdf

I wanted to give the students as much instant gratification as possible,
which is why I introduced the Gnuplot module and NumPy in the first and
second modules, respectively.

Any help, suggestions, criticism, or pity will be gratefully received.

Rick
rpm at wag.caltech.edu