Enhancement of Student Experience and Content Coverage in Physics Courses Through Integration of Computation*

Integrating computational activities into undergraduate physics courses adds educational value to the physics curriculum through providing deeper conceptual understanding of physical principles, introducing marketable skills, enhancing problem-solving, and expanding topical coverage. In this presentation, I shall provide a few examples of these computational activities that add educational value to the undergraduate physics curriculum in introductory and upper level courses, and offer suggestions (based on more than 25 years of “trying things”) on how to effectively implement such activities into the traditional course format, i.e. the conventional lecture-lab mode of physics instruction.