Scientific Computing with Open SageMath not only for Physics Education

Abstract

Nowadays interactive digital scientific environments have become an integral part of scientific computing in solving various scientific tasks in research, but also STEM education. We introduce SageMath or shortly Sage -- a free open Python-based alternative to the well-known commercial software -- in the frame of our course Methods of Physical Problems Solving for future scientists and science teachers. Particularly, in the 1st illustrative example from the Physics Olympiad, we present Sage as a scientific open data source, symbolic, numerical, and visualization tool. The 2nd example from the Young Physicists' Tournament shows Sage as a multimedia, modeling, and programming tool. By employing SageMath as an open digital environment for scientific computing in the education of all STEM disciplines, teachers and students are empowered not only with a universal educational tool, but a real research tool, enabling them to engage in interactive visualization, modeling, programming, and solving of authentic, complex interdisciplinary problems, thus naturally enhancing their motivation to pursue science in alignment with the core mission of STEM education.