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Computational Physics a Better Model for Physics Education?

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Computational Physics a Better Model for Physics Education? C OMPUTATION IN P HYSICS C OURSES Computational Physics A Better Model for Physics Education? Computational physics provides a broader, more balanced, and more flexible education than a traditional physics major. Moreover, presenting physics within a scientific problem- solving paradigm is a more effective and efficient way to teach physics than the traditional approach. dramatic increase in computational search into education and, by using research-rich power and use over the past decade has experiences to stimulate and activate students, is driven rapid advances in science, tech- based on solid educational principles. Think of it nology, and education. However, these as “physics education with research” instead of advances’A long-range effect on undergraduate “physics education research,” which seemingly fo- physics education remains an open question. In the cuses on students’ ability and failure to learn vari- past, educators were content to have undergradu- ous physics concepts. ates view scientific computations as “black boxes” This article will provide evidence of the need for and wait until graduate school to learn what was in- change in physics education—specifically, it re- side. Yet, our increasing reliance on computers views both the number and types of programs makes this less viable today and much less likely to presently in existence and the intellectual content be viable in the future. In response, schools have of such programs. started to develop computational–physics education, in which the dash indicates a union of computation Need for Change in Physics Education? and physics on pretty much equal footing as indi- A little more than 10 years ago, the American In- vidual courses or formal programs. Another re- stitute of Physics (AIP) presented evidence of the sponse, which we can call computational need for change in the “standard model” of under- physics–education, views the computer as a tool to ad- graduate physics education.1 It surveyed physics vance physics education, without questioning what majors five years after graduation, asking them goes on inside the black box. which aspects of their education were most valu- In this article, I suggest that computa- able in their current employment. The results tional–physics education presents the path forward (shown in Figure 1) indicate that for graduates because it integrates the tools and results from re- whose primary field of employment is engineering, mathematics, or science, the three most important skills are scientific problem solving, information 1521-9615/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE synthesis, and mathematical skills. Moreover, these Copublished by the IEEE CS and the AIP skills are also highly important to graduates who RUBIN LANDAU find employment related to software, with this lat- Oregon State University ter group having a high need for computer pro- gramming and software development. 50 COMPUTING IN SCIENCE & ENGINEERING Not long after the AIP conducted its study, the Scientific problem solving US National Science Board issued a report about Synthesizing info the importance of mathematics and computer Math skills skills.2 The NSB found that only 35 percent of Physics principles mathematics and computer science (CS) bache- lors work in the same fields as their degrees, Lab skills Software Modeling or simulation Engineering whereas an even smaller number (22 percent) of science physical and biological science bachelors work in Product design the same fields as their degrees. A similar trend Computer programming exists at the doctorate level (74 percent versus 52 Software development percent). One conclusion we might draw from Scientific software these data is that requiring students to spend more Knowledge of physics of their time on physics, in an effort to get them to understand it the way professors do, deprives 0 20406080100 them of learning other things that could be Very important (%) equally or more important to their educations. This might also be moving physics into the class Figure 1. Importance of knowledge and skills five to seven years of mature, classical subjects that are less relevant after graduation. The light bars are ordered by importance for to society’s needs. physics majors whose primary field of employment is engineering, The US President’s Information Technology Ad- mathematics, or science; the dark bars show results for graduates visory Committee (PITAC) and other groups have employed in software development or programming. (Data stated that CS departments alone can’t meet the courtesy of the American Institute of Physics.) growing need for computer professionals (although predictions of the needed numbers vary with the economy). The most recent PITAC report goes so Application Theory far as to view computational science unequivocally Physics Problem model Implementation Theory as a “third pillar” of scientific inquiry (accompany- science discrete Java, f190,C continuous ing experiment and theory) and that “computa- C tional science is now indispensable to the solution S CS E Math Assessment of complex problems in every sector [because] ad- Hard/ techniques vances in computing and connectivity make it pos- software visualization exploration sible to address problems previously deemed intractable or beyond imagination. Yet, despite the (a) (b) great opportunities and needs, universities and the Federal government have not effectively recog- Figure 2. A new plan. (a) The three disciplines of computational nized the strategic significance of computational physics and a bridge among them. (b) The scientific problem- science in either their organizational structures or solving paradigm used in educational materials. their research and educational planning” (www.ni- trd.gov/pitac/reports/). The computational science referred to here is even though it contains core elements of its own, the mother discipline to computational physics such as computational tools and methods.3 Second, (CP), the subject of this article. As we view com- as physics has matured and physics education re- putational science in Figure 2a, we see that this search and computational physics–education have multidisciplinary subject combines an application tended to focus inward on the traditional concepts (physics), applied mathematics, and CS in the of physics and mathematical physics, they’ve course of solving realistic scientific problems (Fig- moved away from the center of Figure 2a and away ure 2b). As indicated in the PITAC report, the use from the problem-solving paradigm of science in of computation and simulation has now become Figure 2b. In contrast, CP’s commonality of tools prevalent and essential to science. and shared problem-solving mindset draws it closer Although diagrams such as Figure 2a have be- to other computational sciences and outward to ad- come visual clichés, they’re particularly relevant dress a broad range of new problems. Additionally, here. First, as CP has matured, we’ve come to re- researchers have found that incorporating tech- alize that it represents more than just the overlap nology within the problem-solving paradigm is a of physics, CS, and math in a Venn diagram. CP is more effective way to teach science and technology also a bridge that connects the three disciplines than focusing directly on individual components.3 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 51 Table 1. Results from surveys of undergraduate programs in the computational sciences. BS/BA degree Undergraduate minor, Foreign programs programs (22) concentration, track, emphasis, option focus (21) Computational physics 1. Houghton College 1. Abilene Christian 1. Trinity College Dublin 2. Illinois State Univ. 2. North Carolina State Univ. 3. Oregon State Univ. 3. Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie 4. State Univ. of NY, Buffalo 4. Univ. Arkansas 5. Christopher Newport Computational science 1. Stanford Univ. 1. Capital 1. Australian Nat’l Univ. 2. State Univ. of NY, 2. Clark 2. Kanazawawa Univ. Brockport Japan 3. Stevins Inst. Tech. 3. Old Dominion 3. Nat’l Univ. Singapore 4. Univ. California, Berkeley 4. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. 4. Univ. Calgary 5. Salve Regina 5. Univ. Erlangen-Nurnberg 6. Syracuse 6. Univ. Waterloo 7. Univ. Wisconsin, Eau Claire 7. Utrecht Univ. 8. Univ. Wisconsin, LaCrosse 9. Univ. Wisconsin Madison 10. Wittenberg 11. Wofford College Computational biology 1. Carnegie Mellon 1. Univ. California, Merced 2. Univ. Pennsylvania 2. Center Computational Biology (Colorado) Computational mathematics 1. Arizona State Univ. 1. Princeton 2. City Univ. NY, Brooklyn 2. San Diego State Univ. 3. Michigan State Univ. 3. Univ. Central Florida 4. Missouri State Univ. 4. Univ. Nebraska, Lincoln 5. Rice Univ. 6. Rochester Inst. Tech. 7. Seattle Pacific Univ. 8. Saginaw Valley State Univ. 9. San Jose State Univ. 10. Univ. Chicago 11. Univ. Illinois, Chicago Computational Science tion. However, the US National Science Founda- Degree Programs tion- (NSF-) supported Computational Science A bachelor’s degree in any of the computational sci- Curriculum Virtual Institute has been working on ences is rare. Table 1 lists all the undergraduate this, as have study groups with US Department of computational science programs in the US, as de- Energy sponsorship (see www.eotepic.org/moo- termined by outside surveys,4,5 with some updates. dle/course/category.php?id=8). Although we might Note that the table shows only active undergradu- presume that agreeing on such a standard would ate programs and excludes some programs that ap- entail endless academic discussions, in practice, the pear to be straightforward
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