Bringing computation into the classroom

Abstract

The use of computation in the physics classroom has the potential to revolutionise the teaching of many topics in the Physics curriculum. By allowing teachers to move beyond problems that can be solved by hand in the limited time available in a lecture, students can be given a much more authentic experience of the topic. With carefully scaffolded tasks, either in a lecture or in a dedicated computational lab, students can explore a much wider range of problems, in a more meaningful way. We will discuss our experience of using computational physics at Sydney, with emphasis on how to think about introducing it into your own teaching. We will discuss the types of problems that can be tackled, which tools to use, and how to deal with students with different background experience. Participants are asked to install the Anaconda python distribution before the workshop https://www.anaconda.com/products/distribution and bring along suggestions for parts of the curriculum you would be interested in exploring. Intended Audience: University physics educator