2008 journal article

Computational physics in the introductory calculus-based course

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS, 76(4-5), 307–313.

co-author countries: United States of America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

The integration of computation into the introductory calculus-based physics course can potentially provide significant support for the development of conceptual understanding. Computation can support three-dimensional visualizations of abstract quantities, offer opportunities to construct symbolic rather than numeric solutions to problems, and provide experience with the use of vectors as coordinate-free entities. Computation can also allow students to explore models in a way not possible using the analytical tools available to first-year students. We describe how we have incorporated computer programming into an introductory calculus-based course taken by science and engineering students.