Curricular Enhancement Through the Integrated Use of Microcomputers in Introductory Physics

该项目旨在利用计算机可以增强学生在入门物理课程中学习的多种方式，包括代数和微积分。计算机可以做的不仅仅是作为花哨的计算器;它们已经被用作基于物理教育研究结果的教学方法设计的强大工具。该系正在使用微型计算机和以微型计算机为基础的实验室工具，使一系列方法能够纳入现有的物理课程。 其目的是使学生能够使用具体的经验来修正先入之见，构建新的理解，并将其与数学框架相联系。学生们使用电子表格进行建模活动，在某些情况下，数字化视频，反映了物理研究的现实方式。他们利用连接到计算机的传感器或探头探索实验情况，通过提供瞬时计算和实时图形来促进分析，清楚地表明可以提高学生的概念理解。他们通过基于活动的调查来探索一些主题，这有助于他们获得可转移的科学探究技能。 该部门正在开发一些新的练习，但也正在调整许多已经可用的（主要是从车间物理和科学思维工具）到特定的环境，一个中等规模的本科院校，个别教师的变化有一定的灵活性（教学方法变得更有效时，他们适合教师的风格，当教师已经开发了一些所有权的意识）。该项目的努力将对具有类似特点的其他机构有益。学生对物理的态度和关于他们的学习能力如何受到计算机综合使用的影响的自我感知也被评估。

This project seeks to take advantage of the many ways in which computers can enhance student learning in introductory physics courses, both algebra- and calculus-based. Computers can do much more than act as fancy calculators; they have been utilized as powerful tools in the design of teaching methodologies based on the findings of research in physics education. The department is implementing microcomputers and microcomputer-based laboratory tools that make possible an array of approaches to be integrated into existing physics courses. The objective is to empower students to use concrete experiences to revise preconceptions, construct new understanding, and connect it with mathematical frameworks. Students engage in modeling activities using spreadsheets, and in some cases digitized videos, that reflect a realistic manner of physics research. They explore experimental situations utilizing sensors or probes connected to the computer, which facilitates the analysis by providing instantaneous calculations and real-time graphics, clearly shown to improve student conceptual understanding. They explore some topics through activity-based investigations which help them acquire transferable skills of scientific inquiry. The department is developing some new exercises, but is also adapting many that are already available (mostly from Workshop Physics and Tools for Scientific Thinking) to the specific environment, a midsize undergraduate institution, with some flexibility for individual faculty variations (instructional methods become more effective when they fit faculty styles and when faculty have developed some sense of ownership). The project's efforts will be useful to other institutions with similar characteristics. Students' attitudes toward physics and self-perceptions regarding how their learning abilities are affected by the integrated use of computers are also being assessed.