Laboratory for Computational Physics: Using Computers to Build Insight

这个项目正在将Oberlin学院物理系现有的两个UNIX工作站（目前仅用于研究）网络扩展到9台机器。这些计算机被用于学生/教师的研究以及现有课程中的作业和项目，但最重要的是，它们使名为“计算物理导论”的新课程成为可能。本课程利用了许多物理问题与其算法解决方案密切相关的案例，因此物理和算法相互阐明。因为它充分利用了这种联系，这门课程只有一门先决条件的物理课程，因此学生们早在大一就开始学习。这门课程1)激发并吸引了大学生涯早期阶段的学生，2)允许在整个物理课程中适当地使用计算，3)培养学生的物理洞察力。美国国家科学基金会的拨款正与来自非联邦来源的资金相匹配。

This project is expanding the Oberlin College physics department's existing network of two UNIX work-stations (currently used solely for research) to nine machines. These computers are being used for student/faculty research and for assignments and projects in existing courses, but most importantly they are making possible a new course entitled "Introduction to Computational Physics". This course takes advantage of the many cases in which the physical question and its algorithmic solution are intimately linked, so the physics and the algorithm illuminate each other. Because it exploits this link to the fullest, the course has only one prerequisite physics course, and thus is taken by students as early as their freshman year. The course 1) excites and attracts students at an early stage in their college careers, 2) allows appropriate use of computation throughout the physics curriculum, and 3) develops the student's physical insight.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.