Analysis of the PICUP Collection: Strengths and Areas for Development

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the PICUP Collection of physics exercises, highlighting its strengths in diversity and identifying areas for growth, such as expanding high school and advanced-level resources and diversifying programming platforms.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the PICUP Collection, revealing its strengths and suggesting targeted areas for future development.

Findings

Strength in subject and method diversity

Room for expansion in high school and advanced topics

Need for broader programming platform support

Abstract

The PICUP Collection of Exercise Sets (https://www.compadre.org/PICUP/exercises/) contains over 60 peer-reviewed computation-infused activities for use in various physics courses from high school through graduate study. Each Exercise Set includes an instructor guide, student-facing exercises, and sample implementations for one or more programming platforms. We present an analysis of this Collection based on Exercise Set traits such as course level, word count, completion time, course context, computational methods, programming platforms, and engagement elements. This analysis highlights the strengths of the PICUP Collection (such as variety in subject and method coverage) and where there is ample room for development (such as expansion of high school- and advanced-level offerings and a greater representation of programming platforms).