The Simulations in Physics site contains course-related material such as notes and examples for Physics 200, Computational Physics taught at Davidson College by Wolfgang Christian.
Although this site is intended primarily for the distribution of curricular material to Davidson College Physics 200 students, it contains resources for anyone interested in teaching computational physics using the Java programming language. We have developed a collection of Java packages that allows students to quickly build programs that contain graphs, numerical methods, and input/output fields. These tools are being distributed as part of the Open Source Physics project. We hope that these tools will make it easy for students to use the computer to explore real scientific problems early in their undergraduate career.
Since students have different skills, a computational physics course at an undergraduate liberal arts college must be flexible. Some students write well; other students have good graphical design skills; and other students have mathematical ability. Most students will not major in physics and many will not major in science. We believe that Computational Physics has broad appeal since it is an effective way to develop problem solving skills and to become computer literate. Students perceive that they are not well educated without a good understanding of a computer's power and its limitations. Learning to design a program that communicates an idea is part of this course. So is downloading information via the World Wide Web, FTP-ing homework, getting help from Computer Services, and working with other students and the instructor.