SESSION REPDRF3 FROM CCU :/ 5 roitines rather than piottersiwits snail memory rnl1iremants . The final paper of the session, 'A Numerical Calculus CourSC is a n Early Int.rodurtion to Problem Solving," was presented by Charles Daeter o f Texas Caristian Jniversity . In this y :esentation the basic philosophy o f the numerical calculus course was presented, and institutions with limite d facilities and stiff were encouraged to try this philosophy . Fha cours e described is basically the course B4 of " :nrriculum '58" with the majo r thrust of the coarse being on problem solving which otherwise might na t appear in the curriculum . THa method of the course is to look it som e problems and try to solve thew with nice of tan instruction taking piece i n a Laboratory environment . CCUC/6 : Physics Rufus Balke r Department of Physiology and Biophysic s Louisiana State Jniversity Medical :ente r 513 East 3toler Avalu e Shreveport, LA 7111 1 The session began with Alfred Bo :c's presentation of the currant statu s of his Physics Computer Development Project . A persistent theme was tha t the computer must be an "intellectual tool" La suppo :t of a variety o f people doing many different things . rt must assist in problem solving , concept formation, and in self-instruction by providing experience otherwis e unavailable . Bark's axparieaca indicates that interactive graphics is "th e only way to go ." In a sense this paper was distributed throughout th e conference, since many of his programs tiara running on ICU's Sigma J an d available to conference attendees at a number of terminals . They worke d wait, were used heavily, and certainly support Bark's conclusion that w e should look forward to an exciting future . David Beeman of Harvey mail College, presenting his work wit h R . P . Wolf and J . Boswell, also stressed and illustrated the importalce o f graphics . He has used CAI in "upper-Level" courses where the ability t o display the solutions of, for example, the Schroedinger equation an d Laplace's equation can be used to develop the student's own intuition i n visualizing these solutions . Had his programs been running on F :J' s marline, many physics instructors would probably have learned a few thing s themselves--such as what the fields rally lank like in vaveguidas . It' s not surprising that he is able to report that student response has ome n generally favorable . The work of Flautt and Vliet of tam University of Texas at Austin , presented by Robert Flautt, employed the computer in the laboratory for dat a acguisition and far calculation . Suc1 programs are necessarily var y apparatus-specific, which limits their transferability . Nonethelass, thi s work is an indicator of how experiments can oa male morn instructive (an d more paLataBLE) . If a general conclusion can be drawn from this session, tilt coaciusio i is that introduction of the computer into physics education ions not simpl y support what most of us have been doing all along ; rather, the cours e becomes different . "Straightforward bat tendons" becomes merel y "straightforward" and the static illustrations of the text become dynami c presentations of the way the world works . Jltimately, perhaps, work tic ? this will permit physics instruction to rise from the Procrustean bed o f analytic manipulation and march into tea real world ! O :FDBER 1975 11 ACM SISCUE BULLETIN V9 #4
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