Computers in science teaching—An introduction

Abstract

Since their invention 30yearsago,digitalcomputers have been closely linked todevelopmentsin science, engineering and mathematics. indeed, it was the need for increased calculating power to solve complex engineering and scientific problems that gave rise to the digital computer. John von Neumann, one of the key figures in the early history of computing, became interested in the late 1930s “in questions of theoretical hydrodynamics, particularly in the great difficulties encountered in obtaining solutions to partial differential equations by known analytical methods. This endeavor, carried forward when was clouds were darkening the horizon all over the world, brought him into scientific defense work The interaction of shock waves, a very intricate hydrodynamic problem, became one of the important defense research interests, and the tremendous amount of calculations required to get some of the answers motivated Johnny to employ a high-speed computing machine for this purpose.. . he became completely convinced, and tried to convince others in many varied fields, that numerical calculations done on fast electronic calculating devices would substantially facilitate the solution of many difficult, unsolved, scientific problems” [ 11. Today, the term ‘scientific computing’ is often used to differentiate the use of the computer for largescale calculation (‘number-crunching’) in university research, from ‘data processing’, the use of the computer for large-scale data handling, in business, industry and government. Given this history, it is hardly surprising that the computer, an indispensable tool of scientific research. is now routinely used in teaching science, engineering and mathematics (and, of course, computer science). Such computer-based teaching is largely concentrated in higher education, but is already beginning to influence the later years of secondary education. In addition, computing has become an established part of social science research, and is beginning to enter the humanities. A new approach to historical research, called cliometry, is based around the use of quantitative techniques, for example. Research computing increasingly uses both the calculating power, and the data processing capability, of the modern computer. Two rather different applications of the computer in teaching can be distinguished. The computer assists directly in the teaching and learning of physics or chemistry, usually with the student working by himself, in a small or large group, at a computer terminal. Or the computer helps to manage teaching, for example marking objective tests and keeping classroom records. Here the student often has no direct contact with the computer which works in batch processing mode. The use of the computer directly in teaching and learning is called ‘computer assisted learning’ (CAL) in the U.K. ‘Computer managed learning’ (CML) is the term generally used to refer to the computer in its management of teaching role. The remainder of this introductory contribution is divided into three sections. First, there is a section about computer assisted learning with special reference to its application in science teaching. Then there are some general comments about computer managed learning. Finally, the work of the UK’s National Development Programme in Computer Assisted Learning is described.