Simulations in the Classroom: Creating an Engaging Pedagogy Presented at the Computation and Science for Teachers Workshop held at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh, PA on June 2008 Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College

Students should… Deal with data and graphs from –experimental results –prepared data sets from Internet Look for trends Introduce mathematical modeling –Regression –Goodness of Fit

Use simulations… To examine microscopic interactions –NetLogo –Agent Sheets –Many Java applets on the Internet To explode mathematics of macroscopic interactions –Excelets –Vensim or Stella

Where do we start? Select a single basic modeling tool – Excel Learn some principles of mathematical modeling Develop computationally-based simulations

An ideal approach… Single variable experiment Multivariable simulation Develop an ideal mathematical model Add error to make real-world science process oriented

Guided instruction… Written guided-inquiry or discovery based instructions (think like your students when you pose questions!) Predict-test-analyze Try it and then revise/rewrite it!!!!!

Ultimately… Integrated mathematics and science A very science process oriented approach Your students could be developing models on their own

This is just the beginning… Computational science can study… » Weather and climate » Disease spread » Engineering design See the PSC Scientific Visualization Gallery

Let the journey begin!!!!! but first some coffee

Resources Exercises developed by previous CAST participants (see previous years) Computational Resources by MVHS Developer’s Guide to Excelets Introduction to Computational Science Angela B. Shiflet and George W. Shiflet

Data analysis Graphing with Excel – LabWrite Using Excel for Handling, Graphing, and Analyzing Scientific Data: A Resource for Science and Mathematics Students

Data sets Quantitative Environmental Learning Project (QELP) as Excel files Exploring Data – datasets as Excel files contact: