Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2019
Volume 64, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, April 13–16, 2019; Denver, Colorado
Session L06: Calling all physics teachers: It is time to integrate computation into your courses!Careers Education Invited
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Sponsoring Units: FEd DCOMP Chair: Deva O'Neil, Bridgewater College Room: Sheraton Governor's Square 15 |
Sunday, April 14, 2019 3:30PM - 4:06PM |
L06.00001: The need for computation Invited Speaker: Marie Lopez del Puerto There is an increasing need to integrate computation into the physics curriculum. Graduates from science and engineering fields, who traditionally take two or more physics courses, need computational skills in order to productively contribute to 21st century industries. Physics graduates, whether they go on to work in industry or pursue advanced degrees, need those same skills. Using simulations and computational modeling can enhances students’ conceptual understanding. Having students write the simulations and analyze the results gives students experience in breaking down a problem into manageable pieces, deciding on an algorithm to use, validating code, and plotting and analyzing data. In this talk I will highlight evidence that points toward the increasing need to integrate computation into the physics curriculum, speak about work that has been done to establish a baseline of computational skills students should develop in their undergraduate studies, and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of integrating computation. |
Sunday, April 14, 2019 4:06PM - 4:42PM |
L06.00002: The PICUP Collection: A Unique Repository for Supporting the Integration of Computation into the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum Invited Speaker: Kelly R Roos Computation in the undergraduate curriculum is gaining significant traction in physics departments across the country, including a burgeoning effort to integrate computation into individual physics courses, both introductory and advanced, in such a way that it plays a role that is as important as non-computational mathematics in two important educational areas: (i) providing a deeper conceptual understanding of physical principles, and (ii) problem-solving. The Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics (PICUP), an informal group of physics faculty from around the country, is committed to building a supportive community of STEM educators dedicated to integrating computation into the undergraduate curriculum. One of the cornerstones of the PICUP community-building effort is a significant online component. In this presentation, I shall describe the unique educational materials development effort that has attracted much interest amongst physics faculty at all levels of computational physics education experience. |
Sunday, April 14, 2019 4:42PM - 5:18PM |
L06.00003: Integrating Computation into Core Physics courses: A perspective from a research-intensive university Invited Speaker: Marcos Daniel Caballero Computation has revolutionized how science is done. Modern scientists use computational techniques to reduce mountains of data, to simulate impossible experiments, and to develop intuition about the behavior of complex systems. Much of the research completed by modern scientists would be impossible without the use of computation. And yet, while computation is a crucial tool of practicing scientists, most modern science curricula do not reflect its importance and utility. In this talk, I will discuss the urgent need to construct such curricula in physics and present research that investigates the challenges at a variety of all scales from the largest (institutional structures) to the smallest (student understanding of a concept). I will discuss how the results of this research can be leveraged to facilitate the computational revolution in education. This research will help us understand and develop institutional/departmental incentives, effective teaching practices, evidence-based course activities, and valid assessment tools. |
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