Computer simulations combined with experiments for calculus-based physics laboratory course

Abstract

This paper is presenting a set of laboratory classes to be taught as a part of a 1-year calculus-based physics class. It is composed out of 7 modules designed to bring together experiments and computer simulations (numerical 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 a 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.