In the University of St. Thomas physics department, we have begun an ambitious, collaborative project to embed computation and experimentation in five required physics courses that span our sophomore and upper-level offerings. The laboratory for our sophomore Applications of Modern Physics course, which is a required course for all physics and electrical engineering majors, is being redeveloped to serve as an introduction to computer simulation. All of our students are now expected to be proficient in a common computational language - MATLAB - which can then be used as a tool in upper-level courses. We are embedding MATLAB in large and small ways throughout the curriculum, from simple tasks such as plotting functions, to sophisticated tasks such as simulating the dynamics of a complex system. We are also connecting the theory of idealized physical systems with real systems through the combination of computer simulations and validation experiments. Through continued exposure, we anticipate that our students will embrace computation as a useful tool in their arsenal. This paper describes our project, which involves five physics faculty and an advisor from the School of Engineering who has expertise in education.
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