Re: Computational Physics

[cfg@nebula.physics.uakron.edu (Frank Griffin)]

I taught a two week (6 hours/day) summer course on computational physics to
students described as Gifted and Talented.  These students had finished
there high school freshman year.  At that time we had Apples and I used
Applesoft basic.  They were given plotting routines which they only had to
modify to make the plots fit on the screen.  The physics was contained in
loops like that described by Feynman in his 3 vol. set on intro physics.
Students were able in the two weeks to master the routines and to plot
things such as the the damped harmonic oscillator and orbiting planets.  As
to how much physics they understood is another matter.  I do think it would
be worth investigating to see the impact of such programming on basic
understanding as say measured by the FCI.

Frank Griffin


> > Can the members of this list inform me of what they would think a
> > course titled "Computational Physics" means and includes in terms of
> > course topics, content and experiences?
> >
> > This would be a 2 hour a week lab at the junior-senior level course in an
> > independent high school. The school has success with passing AP Calculus
> > based Physics classes.




+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
C. Frank Griffin                        Phone:  (330) 972-8027
Department of Physics                   Dept.:  (330) 972-7078
University of Akron                     Fax:  (330) 972-6918
Akron, OH 44325-4001                    cfg@nebula.physics.uakron.edu