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Re: Simulations



At 08:20 AM 1/13/98 -0800, Leigh wrote:
|>One more note on Simulations in Physics. I think a very good pedagogical
|>tool is to have students WRITE simulations. I'm not talking about writing
snip
|
|I want to applaud this honest statement heartily. In my view this is the
|*only* way in which simulations can be effective teaching tools.
another snip.

As should be clear from my earlier comments, I disagree with Leigh. In the
paper "Case Study of the Physics Component of an Integrated Curriculum,"
Robert Beichner et al, submitted to JPER, we discuss the components of a
successful experimental physics course. Student performance was considerably
better than in the traditional parallel courses as measured by a number of
different exam types. Computer simulations (with no programming) played a
key role in the classroom.

As such I think we have good experimental indication that simulations can be
effective teaching tools. As with all educational research, it is hard to
separate the effects of various parts of a course, however. Still, from
student interviews the simulations were seen by the students as very
important to their understanding.

Educational experiments such as these are difficult, but important, as they
allow us to go beyond hunches and opinions about "what works" to actually
determining what works.

It's true that writing simulations is the best way to profit from their use,
but I worry that we then leave out the vast majority of physics students.
Most students take only two semesters of physics, and have little
programming skill. Bringing them up to the skill level needed to program a
simulation would take away from time for other, possibly more important
work. There is much to be gained from interacting with simulations without
programming.

The last paragraph is only my opinion, and is not based on classroom
experiment.

Perhaps there will be some light shed on this, as Bruce Sherwood and Ruth
Chabay at Carnegie Mellon are doing an experimental course teaching
mechanics and thermo to first semester freshmen engineering students. In
that course, the students do programming of simulations in cT. I'm sure
we'll be seeing a paper on this in the future. (Their course is directed,
however, at engineering students. The majority of physics students are still
left out.)

JEG

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John E. Gastineau mailto: gastineau@mindspring.com KC8IEW
900 B Ridgeway Ave. http://gastineau.home.mindspring.com
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