UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Aaron Titus, High Point University

“Iterative Thinking”

Numerical techniques for integration are hardly taught in a typical calculus course and are hardly used in a typical physics course. Yet, numerical integration is an essential tool in current research and development in science and engineering. How do we bridge this gap between what contemporary students need and what we traditionally teach? The answer is to think iteratively. I will demonstrate how iterative thinking in the introductory calculus-based physics course allows students to construct, test, and extend physical models and observe the emergence of complex behavior from simple physical rules. I will present examples using VPython (or the web-based version, GlowScript) which provides 3D visualization and a low barrier to learning computational modeling.