United States

Computational skills are a necessity in the modern workforce. However, determining how to teach these skills in a way that can be easily accessible for all students is a daunting challenge. As a one-person physics department in a small, liberal arts institution, I have aimed to build up the physics curriculum with an emphasis on transferrable experimental and computational skills, all while being accessible to as many students as possible. This work includes computation-based introductory physics laboratories, computational assignments in a non-major course on chaos, and computational essays in an intermediate lab-based class on resonance. Each course primarily uses a different browser-based platform (spreadsheets, Glowscript, Google Colaboratory) that was chosen for its accessibility and ease-of-use. I will discuss the various successes and challenges I have encountered teaching with these different computational tools, and I look forward to receiving feedback and ideas for future iterations of this ongoing project.

AAPT SM 20

Accessible Computation: Teaching Computation in Physics Through Browser-Based Platforms

browser-based

accessible

computation

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The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. 

It’s just rolling up: How students make rolled-up industrial capacitors

Using worked-out examples of different features to increase learner’s problem solving

Preparing the next generation of educators

Exploring Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Physics Instructors and Teaching Assistants using the Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics

Exploring Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Physics Instructors and Teaching Assistants using the Force Concept Inventory

Investigating transfer of learning in advanced quantum mechanics

Helping Students Understand Temperature By Using Money

Introductory calculus-based physics is taught at Bridgewater College with both laboratory and computational components. Simple programming in Glowscript (a vpython environment) is introduced to students in recitation section. In two of the lab experiments (cart sliding with constant velocity, collision between two carts), students use the experimental data to determine the parameters for a numerical simulation of the system. The computational activities are designed to provide practice with momentum conservation and with updating the position of an object based on its previous position and velocity. Integrating them with lab activities is intended to promote understanding of the physical parameters. If coded correctly, the numerical output will resemble the experimental data, providing plausibility checks on the code. A more advanced laboratory activity done in Physics I, the ballistic pendulum, has also been simulated numerically by a student as an Honors Upgrade. The simulation applies the principle of momentum conservation to reproduce the motion of a pendulum after a collision with a projectile.

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