In this paper, we report on an experimental activity for discussing the concepts of speed, instantaneous speed and acceleration, generally introduced in first year university courses of calculus or physics. Rather than developing the ideas of calculus and using them to explain these basic concepts for the study of motion, we led 82 first year…

We introduce a new open source (free) software package that provides a simple, highly interactive interface for carrying out certain mathematical tasks that are commonly encountered in physics. These tasks include plotting and animating functions, solving systems of coupled algebraic equations, and basic calculus (differentiating and integrating…

Thermodynamic quantities such as the average energy, heat capacity, and entropy are calculated using a Monte Carlo method based on the Metropolis algorithm. This method is illustrated with reference to the harmonic oscillator but is particularly useful when the partition function cannot be evaluated; an example using a one-dimensional spin system…

Mathematical software packages such as Polymath, MATLAB, and Mathcad are currently widely used for engineering problem solving. Applications of several of these packages to typical chemical engineering problems have been demonstrated by Cutlip, et al. The main characteristic of these packages is that they provide a "problem-solving environment…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect on student understanding of Newton's Third Law in an introductory calculus-based physics class when a new graphical representational tool called a system schema was used throughout instruction to help visualize objects and interactions between them explicitly. The system schema serves as an…

Describes three software packages: (1) "MacMendeleev"--database/graphic display for chemistry, grades 10-12, Macintosh; (2) "Geometry One: Foundations"--geometry tutorial, grades 7-12, IBM; (3) "Mathematics Exploration Toolkit"--algebra and calculus tutorial, grades 8-12, IBM. (MVL)