Physics students grok that they need computing
September 15, 2011 at 9:36 am 3 comments
Danny Caballero has started a blog at Boulder, and a recent post describes a survey he took of upper-division undergraduates in Physics. They definitely grokked that they need computing in their education.
59 students responded to the survey. Most students were juniors and seniors. That’s because we targeted upper-division courses like Classical Mechanics, E&M and Stat. Mech.
Here’s a brief summary with more details located here:
75% of students said that computational modeling is “Essential” or “Important” to their development as a physicist.
Students mentioned these characteristics would be important for the tool they might be taught to use (in decreasing order): ease of use, support/resources for learning, efficiency and power, flexibility and adaptability, well-accepted in the field.
Students were neutral about using open-source software, but stated that it was important for the tool be free or cheap after they graduate.
As far as implementation, students wanted to see computational modeling as a complement to analytical problem solving task. Ideas included solving more complex problems, helping with algebra and visualizing problems.
via Think like a physicist… | Ideas and thoughts from an underpaid fool.
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: computational science, computing education, physics education.
1. Physics students grok that they need … – Computing Education Blog | My Blog | September 15, 2011 at 11:07 am
[…] the article here: Physics students grok that they need … – Computing Education Blog This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged boulder, caballero, danny-caballero, […]
2. Definition and origin of “Grok” | Monsta Productions | November 9, 2011 at 8:13 am
[…] Physics students grok that they need computing (computinged.wordpress.com) Advertisement Eco World Content From Across The Internet. Featured on EcoPressed Simple Gifts Share this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Featured and tagged Colloquialism, Computer Science, Dictionaries, games, Grok, Slang, Vocabulary Lists. Bookmark the permalink. […]
3.
Live coding as a path to music education — and maybe computing, too | Computing Education Blog | October 3, 2013 at 7:15 am
[…] have talked here before about the use of computing to teach physics and the use of Logo to teach a wide range of topics. Live coding raises another fascinating […]