Computational Science with 9th Grade Physics Students

Abstract

Computational methods have proliferated as part of introductory physics classes at the university level. The Integrating Computational Science Across Michigan (ICSAM) program run by Michigan State University is targeted at bringing those computational practices to secondary science classrooms. The initial implementation focused on students enrolled in AP Physics 1 (mostly 12th grade students) building computational models using the mathematical physics models developed from experiments. Lessons learned from the experience in AP Physics 1 were then applied to 9th grade students when the school adopted a “Physics First” curriculum and made physics a required class. There was a concern that mathematics skills of the 9th grade students would make implementation of computation physics especially challenging. In practice, we have found that the younger students were able to create computational models almost as well as the older students. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (DRL-1741575).