Accessible Computation : Teaching Computation in Physics Through Browser-Based Platforms

Author / Creator

AAPT SM20 (2020)

Conferences

AAPT SM20 PAR-D.10 Tools for Teaching Computation in Physics (2020)

Available as

Online

Summary

Computational skills are a necessity in the modern workforce. However, determining how to teach these skills in a way that can be easily accessible for all students is a daunting challenge. As a on...

Computational skills are a necessity in the modern workforce. However, determining how to teach these skills in a way that can be easily accessible for all students is a daunting challenge. As a one-person physics department in a small, liberal arts institution, I have aimed to build up the physics curriculum with an emphasis on transferrable experimental and computational skills, all while being accessible to as many students as possible. This work includes computation-based introductory physics laboratories, computational assignments in a non-major course on chaos, and computational essays in an intermediate lab-based class on resonance. Each course primarily uses a different browser-based platform (spreadsheets, Glowscript, Google Colaboratory) that was chosen for its accessibility and ease-of-use. I will discuss the various successes and challenges I have encountered teaching with these different computational tools, and I look forward to receiving feedback and ideas for future iterations of this ongoing project.

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