Computer simulations combined with experiments for a calculusbased physics laboratory course

摘要

This paper presents a set of laboratory classes to be taught as a part of a 1 year calculus-based physics class. It is composed of 7 modules designed to bring together experiments and computer simulations. Each module uses both simulations and experiments to address a phenomenon under study, and lasts for 3 weeks (21 weeks total for the whole set). Wolfram Mathematica is used for computer simulations. Topics are: motion with drag, pendulum with an arbitrary amplitude, Magnus effect, centripetal force acting on a pendulum, a ball rolling from paths of various shapes, Doppler shift and Fourier transformation, equipotential lines. These laboratory classes were taught for 2 years at Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science.