Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Simulations



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
something in Interactive Physics, but rather have them use C, Pascal, or
Basic and actually write a simulation of some physical phenomenon. I do
this with a third semester class and have them animate three charges of
variable mass and charge all free to move. This can be done in either 2D or
3D. To do the assignment, the students must really pull apart the physics
back to the basic ideas of force components, accelerations, velocities, and
displacements. They must also deal with boundary conditions (such as the
charges getting 'too' close to each other) and deal with those through
approximations or idealizations. They also must determine how to test
their simulations against known behaviors to legitimize their models.

I want to applaud this honest statement heartily. In my view this is the
*only* way in which simulations can be effective teaching tools. I have
found on more than one occasion that a high school teacher who has become
very enthusiastic about simulations as teaching tools has written one
himself (most often a projectile simulator, perhaps with air resistance).
I believe he recommends it because he has gained understanding in the
exercise of writing it.

Leigh