Physics – Physics Education
Scientific paper
2009-04-26
Physics
Physics Education
Revised introduction, notes on how to implement the lab at other institutions, additional references
Scientific paper
The paper describes two general problems encountered in computational assignments at the introductory level. First, novice students often treat computer code as almost magic incantations, and like novices in many fields, have trouble creating new algorithms or procedures to solve novel problems. Second, the nature of computational studies often means that the results generated are interpreted via theoretically devised quantities, which may not meet a student's internal standards for proof when compared to an experimental measurement. The paper then offers a lab/programming assignment, used in a calculus-based physics course, which was devised to address these problems. In the assignment, students created a computational model of the heat flow involved in heating an iron rod in a blacksmith's forge. After creating the simulation, students attended a blacksmithing seminar and had a chance to work with iron and take data on its heating in a coke-fueled forge. On their return to campus, students revised their computational models in light of their experimental data.
Moore Nathan
Schoolmeesters Nicole
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