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Re: Empiry



At 06:58 PM 1/8/98 -0600, Herb Schulz wrote:
*************
...
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that computer simulation (an
area in which I have done quite a bit of work myself) is *not*
empiry. Nature contributes nothing to the process; it is purely

A side comment. Students know that you can make a computer give you any
kind of world you wish; there is no need to follow the laws of nature in
a
computer since it's all a "game" anyway. Therefore I don't believe they
have any respect for simulations.

*******************************

That is not my experience at all. I base my opinion on extensive
conversations with students regarding what they draw from the
simulations.

Leigh is quite right that computer simulations do not replace physical
experiments. However, I disagree with his statement that nature
contributes nothing to the process. The rules used to program the
simulation are drawn from nature. If nature decreed that F=m^2a, then
that's how the simulation would be written.

Students know that the underlying rules of the simulation are the very
rules that they are expected to learn in their physics course. As a
result they have _considerable_ respect for the simulation--it allows
them a tool to explore those rules in a way that complements physical
experiments particularly well. It might help their grades, after all. (!)

Let me expand on that last comment. One way that I have used simulations
with good success is to have students do an experiment (a physical
experiment, that is). Then, we open a simulation that models the
phenomenon that they have just observed. In the simulation it is easy to
vary parameters (i.e., to explore parameter space). Once can encourage
students to understand the system by asking "what would happen if you
increased the mass (or coefficient of friction, or...)?" Being able to
successfully make such predictions requires a good understanding of the
physics. The simulation allows much more practice than one can get using
a physical experiment. The two go hand in hand.

Just like any other tool, simulations can be used well or badly in
classes. One must have a goal in mind for the lesson.

JEG

__________________________________

John E. Gastineau gastineau@mindspring.com KC8IEW
900 B Ridgeway Ave. http://gastineau.home.mindspring.com
Morgantown WV 26505 (304) 296-1966 voice (304) 296-5035 fax