Computation across the curriculum: What skills are needed?

Caballero, Marcos D.

doi:10.1119/perc.2015.pr.015

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Increasingly, computational tools and software are employed to solve real world problems, such as MATLAB for conducting numerical calculations and visualizations, or ZEMAX for optical design. More recently, research in math, physics, and science education has focused attention on the development of computational thinking skills in the undergraduate curriculum [31][32][33][34] and even high school science classes [35].…”

Section: B Math Use In Physics-related Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing mathematical problem solving in physics-related workplaces using epistemic games

Chen

Leak

et al. 2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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In order to support physics students in their future careers, there is a need to understand the relationship between undergraduate education and professional practice in physics-related fields. This study investigated high-level goal driven mathematical problem-solving activities that are found within two disciplinary cultures: physical science research labs in academia and photonics workplaces in industry. We conducted semistructured interviews with 10 Ph.D. students and 22 engineers and technicians. Math use in professional workplaces was characterized through an adaptation of epistemic games framework, which revealed six common epistemic games in these workplaces: conceptual math modeling, analyticalnumerical math modeling, design-oriented math modeling, fabrication, improving processes, and making meaning out of data games. The workplace-specific epistemic games capture the goals, starting and ending conditions, constraints and contextual features, moves, tools, and representations. The games involve a broad spectrum of math that ranges from arithmetic to computational modeling. The games reveal how goals and particular contextual features impact approaches to mathematical problem solving. The findings extend prior work on mathematical problem solving in physics to a new population of professional researchers, engineers, and technicians in their workplaces. The research may guide new approaches for developing problems and explicitly teaching problem solving in diverse physics contexts, which may additionally benefit undergraduate students' preparation for their future careers.

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Section: B Math Use In Physics-related Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing mathematical problem solving in physics-related workplaces using epistemic games

Chen

Leak

et al. 2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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“…From their study, they created a taxonomy of computational thinking and practices divided into four main categories: Data Practices; Modeling and Simulation Practices; Computational Problem Solving Practices; and, Systems Thinking Practices. This taxonomy has been used to code STEM professional' interviews about how they use computational thinking in their work [3], [4], [5], [6] . While we acknowledge that this taxonomy might not be comprehensive [9], for the purpose of this study it suited our needs as a guide for determining what counts as computational thinking and practices within the College of Science.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational practices in introductory science courses

Fracchiolla¹,

Meehan²

2021

2021 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings

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Nowadays computation is considered to be one of the pillars of modern science. This is reflected in the fact that much scientific research and industry work relies heavily on technology and computation. As university educators we need to equip graduates with the tools to help them succeed in their discipline. The study reported here is part of a larger project which aims to identify computational practices used by faculty from across the College of Science in an R1 Irish university in their disciplines and research, in order to inform the design of a computational science course intended for first-year undergraduate students. This paper reports on findings from one-to-one interviews with fourteen faculty from across six schools in the college. Their understanding of the nature of computational thinking and their views on the role that computation does/can play in the undergraduate science curriculum, and specifically in teaching and learning within their disciplinary program are presented. Concerns and challenges related to the embedding of computation in undergraduate science programs voiced by participants are presented here. Finally, implications of the findings for the design of the first year computational science course are discussed.

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“…Computational modeling activities have been proposed to be a rich area for exploring CT in introductory physics [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. As an example, the repository of exercise sets from the Partnership for Integration of Computation in Undergraduate Physics (PICUP) features a plethora of computational modeling activities that incorporate CT practices [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a learning goal framework for computational thinking in computationally integrated physics classrooms

Weller,

Bott,

Caballero

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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Computational thinking has been a recent focus of education research within the sciences. However, there is a dearth of scholarly literature on how best to teach and to assess this topic, especially in disciplinary science courses. Physics classes with computation integrated into the curriculum are a fitting setting for investigating computational thinking. In this paper, we lay the foundation for exploring computational thinking in introductory physics courses. First, we review relevant literature to synthesize a set of potential learning goals that students could engage in when working with computation. The computational thinking framework that we have developed features 14 practices contained within 6 different categories. We use in-class video data as existence proofs of the computational thinking practices proposed in our framework. In doing this work, we hope to provide ways for teachers to assess their students' development of computational thinking, while also giving physics education researchers some guidance on how to study this topic in greater depth.

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Computation across the curriculum: What skills are needed?

Cited by 11 publications

References 10 publications

Characterizing mathematical problem solving in physics-related workplaces using epistemic games

Characterizing mathematical problem solving in physics-related workplaces using epistemic games

Computational practices in introductory science courses

Developing a learning goal framework for computational thinking in computationally integrated physics classrooms

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