Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS March Meeting
Volume 54, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 16–20, 2009; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Session A6: Computational Physics in Research and Teaching: GRC Topics and Themes |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd DCOMP Chair: Wolfgang Christian, Davidson College Room: 406 |
Monday, March 16, 2009 8:00AM - 8:36AM |
A6.00001: Unstable Periodic Orbits as a Unifying Principle in the Presentation of Dynamical Systems in the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum Invited Speaker: Unstable periodic orbits are a ubiquitous feature of a wide variety of dynamical systems that exhibit behavior that may be characterized as chaotic, complex or turbulent. In physics pedagogy, they may be used as a bridge to the understanding of symbolic dynamics, topological entropy and pressure, and the dynamical zeta function formalism. As high-performance scientific computation makes the application of this methodology possible to ever-larger dynamical systems, this methodology emerges as an effective way to introduce students -- from secondary school, to undergraduate education, to graduate education -- to advanced concepts in the theory of dynamical systems. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 16, 2009 8:36AM - 9:12AM |
A6.00002: Innovations in Teaching with Computers: What Works, What Doesn't, and How We Can Tell Invited Speaker: Over the past few decades, members of the physics education community, including researchers in physics education, have been actively developing an ever-expanding array of computer-based tools with which to improve the effectiveness of physics teaching. The 2008 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Physics Research and Education served to showcase several such examples of incorporating computation into the undergraduate physics curriculum. In light of these recent advances, it has become increasingly important to ask what it means for such innovations to ``work'' and what evidence is needed to assess whether or not such innovations ``work'' as intended. This presentation will provide an overview of several interrelated themes from the 2008 GRC that currently drive efforts in research and curriculum development. These themes include: How can computer-based modeling, interactive simulations and visualizations, and virtual experimentation enhance student learning of physics? How can these techniques be employed to improve the ability of students to design, perform, and learn from physical experiments? How are physics education researchers utilizing computer-based tools to probe student understanding, characterize student thinking about ``what it means to learn physics,'' and to develop new innovations? [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 16, 2009 9:12AM - 9:48AM |
A6.00003: Molecular dynamics simulation: A tool for exploration and discovery Invited Speaker: The exploratory and didactic aspects of science both benefit from the ever-growing role played by computer simulation. One particularly important simulational approach is the molecular dynamics method, used for studying the nature of matter from the molecular to much larger scales. The effectiveness of molecular dynamics can be enhanced considerably by employing visualization and interactivity during the course of the computation and afterwards, allowing the modeler not only to observe the detailed behavior of the systems simulated in different ways, but also to steer the computations in alternative directions by manipulating parameters that govern the actual behavior. This facilitates the creation of potentially rich simulational environments for examining a multitude of complex phenomena, as well as offering an opportunity for enriching the learning process. A series of relatively advanced examples involving molecular dynamics will be used to demonstrate the value of this approach, in particular, atomistic simulations of spontaneously emergent structured fluid flows (the classic Rayleigh--B\'enard and Taylor--Couette problems), supramolecular self-assembly of highly symmetric shell structures (involved in the formation of viral capsids), and that most counterintuitive of phenomena, granular segregation (e.g., axial and radial separation in a rotating cylinder). [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 16, 2009 9:48AM - 10:24AM |
A6.00004: Computation in the Classroom: Open Source Physics Resources Invited Speaker: There are many resources available to instructors who wish to better integrate computational physics into the undergraduate curriculum, but it is difficult find and sort through these materials. The Open Source Physics Collection on ComPADRE (www.compadre.org/osp/), the digital library for the physics community, is an attempt to provide a coherent and organized collection of computational resources for physics instruction. This talk will provide concrete examples of computational physics resources used in the classroom and will describe effective uses of these materials ranging from ready-to-run simulations to code that students modify themselves. The resources are an outgrowth of the Open Source Physics Project, generously supported by NSF DUE-0442581. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, March 16, 2009 10:24AM - 11:00AM |
A6.00005: Astrophysical Computation in Research, the Classroom and Beyond Invited Speaker: In this talk I review progress in the use of simulations as a tool for astronomical research, for education and public outreach. The talk will include the basic elements of numerical simulations as well as advances in algorithms which have led to recent dramatic progress such as the use of Adaptive Mesh Refinement methods. The scientific focus of the talk will be star formation jets and outflows while the educational emphasis will be on the use of advanced platforms for simulation based learning in lecture and integrated homework. Learning modules for science outreach websites such as DISCOVER magazine will also be highlighted. [Preview Abstract] |
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