Developing a project-based computational physics course grounded in expert practice

TL;DR

This paper presents the development and initial implementation of a project-based computational physics course designed around expert practices, using faculty interviews and a competency rubric to guide student learning.

Contribution

It introduces a novel course design grounded in expert practice indicators and a backward design approach for computational physics education.

Findings

Students acquired many expert practices as shown by faculty regrading.

The course design effectively aligns with expert problem-solving skills.

Initial implementation demonstrates potential for improving computational physics education.

Abstract

We describe a project-based computational physics course developed using a backwards course design approach. From an initial competency-based model of problem solving in computational physics, we interviewed faculty who use these tools in their own research to determine indicators of expert practice. From these, a rubric was formulated that enabled us to design a course intended to allow students to learn these skills. We also report an initial implementation of the course and, by having the interviewees regrade student work, show that students acquired many of the expert practices identified.