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Vibe Coding Party for Nature: Building Tools with AI Coding Agents

Instructors: Kalindi Fonda, Karina Torres

Lesson Summary

In this coworking session, described as a “vibe coding party,” students practice building software using natural language prompts and AI coding tools. The session emphasizes collaboration, playfulness, and ease, providing an inclusive space to students with a range of coding experience. Each student picks a project of their choosing (e.g., an app, a data analysis or visualization, a website, a game), builds the project with an AI coding tool, and presents the result. Students will understand how to implement AI coding tools to support their projects, with a particular emphasis on specifying tasks, iterating on prompts, and reviewing AI-generated output rather than writing code themselves.

The course earns Extra Credit, read more in the Post-Assignments.

Objectives

At the end of this module, students will be able to:

  • Scope, build and run a small piece of working software of their own choosing with an AI coding tool (e.g., an app, a data analysis or visualization, a website, a game).
  • Write natural language prompts and iteratively refine them until the AI coding tool produces working software.
  • Use at least one AI coding tool or technique they hadn't used before, whether that's writing a first-ever prompt or running a more agentic workflow.
  • Evaluate AI-generated output to assess whether the output fulfills the prompt objective, misinterprets the prompt, fabricates information, or omits prompted task requests.
  • Explain a vibe coding project to others: what they set out to build, what they built, what challenges they faced, and what the AI coding tool accomplished or failed to achieve.
  • Draw on a community of peers when building with AI coding tools: know how to ask for help, offer it, and adopt tools and techniques others are using.
  • Identify concrete ways AI coding tools could support their own work in ecology, conservation, or other nature-related projects.

Pre-Lecture Activities and Readings

Read

  1. October Vibe Coding Party - Imageomics Edition
  2. How to vibe code in science: early adopters share their tips (Jones, 2026)
  3. Ten simple rules for effective use of generative AI for code development in environmental science (King et al., 2026)
    • King, R.A., Abowd, L., Broderick, C.W., Bradley, L., Czapanskiy, M.F., Farnisa, M.M., et al. (2026). Ten simple rules for effective use of generative AI for code development in environmental science. PLoS Comput Biol 22(8): e1014627. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014627
  4. Optional: Harnessing large language models for coding, teaching and inclusion to empower research in ecology and evolution (Cooper et al., 2024)
    • Cooper, N., Clark, A. T., Lecomte, N., Qiao, H., & Ellison, A. M. (2024). Harnessing large language models for coding, teaching and inclusion to empower research in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 15, 1757–1763. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14325
  5. Optional: Generative AI as a tool to accelerate the field of ecology (Rafiq et al., 2025)

Pre-Assignments

  1. Pick a session to attend. Fill in the registration form so we know when to expect you and what your project is: https://forms.gle/uPeuNHp9PDf18ZbL8. You can also attend both!

  2. Decide on project & scope. Come up with an idea or a few; and dare to dream!

  3. [Optional] Set up your data. Depending on your project, you might need some data to work with. Gather any assets you'll need (data, images, text, lists) so you're not searching mid-session.

  4. Set up your AI Coding Tools. Read the “Tools” section of the information document (October Vibe Coding Party - Imageomics Edition) and set up at least one AI coding tool (e.g. Claude Code, ChatGPT, Gemini / AI Studio, Lovable, Replit, Cursor, or a local model).

    • Build a small test, such as a one-page "hello" site or a single chart, and confirm you can run things. If you are stuck here, you can get support during the Vibe Coding party.

    • Check what free resources you can use: GitHub for Education and any free credits your institution has with AI providers (see the AI-Paired Coding tab for more information).

In-Class Activities

Timing is approximate based on the number of attendees and engagement.

  1. (30 min) Around-the-room: introduce yourself, what you usually work with or research, what you want to build today, and where you are in your AI coding journey. Anything from "never programmed" to "I use AI agents daily" is a perfectly good answer.
  2. (~120 min) Co-work time. Light chatter on the call; ask questions, share what you know.
    • Start: write your first prompt, or turn your project plan into one. Include what the project does, who it's for, and 2–3 concrete features or outputs. If it uses data, describe the dataset or give a few example rows (columns, units, known quirks) and the question you want answered. You can ask an AI chat tool to help you draft the prompt.
    • Build: run the prompt, look at what comes back, and iterate.
    • Review: does the output actually do what you asked?
    • Capture: take screenshots as you go and drop them in the shared doc.
    • Check in: We'll do a quick check-in every 30 or so minutes, but feel free to unmute or use the chat any time, to ask questions, reflections or share a “wow this actually worked.”
  3. (30 min) Show and tell: each person demos what they made in a couple of minutes and shares some reflections, such as one thing the AI got right and one thing that needed correcting or didn't work. Add screenshots to the shared doc.
  4. Optional: rapid-fire round. Everyone builds from the same short shared prompt for 10 minutes, then a lightning round of demos comparing what different tools and prompts produced.

Class Sessions

Session 1: North America Afternoon / Europe Evening

Date: Wednesday October 21, 2026 Time: 2pm EDT (8am HST / 11am PDT / 8pm CEST) Zoom: https://osu.zoom.us/meeting/register/vT5rD5U6Q4G_G2g-V4530A

Session 2: North America Morning / Europe Afternoon

Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026 Time: 8am EDT (2am HST / 5am PDT / 2pm CEST) Zoom: https://osu.zoom.us/meeting/register/d1H2ZwyFRViqb4xMYhvFKg

Post-Assignments

  1. Discuss - Write a short reflection (200-300 words): what you set out to build, what you actually built, where the AI coding tool struggled or needed correcting, and what you'd try next time. - Add screenshot(s) of your work to show others in the class what you worked on.
  2. Optional (but highly encouraged): Submit your project to the Vibe Coding Party Gallery

To earn the extra credit: