Teaching and Learning Technology Resource

| uwa | csd | tltr | altmodes |

DESCRIPTION OF INNOVATION:

The Chaos course consists of a series of interactive Mathematica Notebooks available for each three-hour lecture/lab session, which takes place in the second year computing laboratory in the physics department. Mathematica is used as both a presentation environment and a computational tool for students to explore fractals and chaos.

REASONS FOR DEVELOPMENT/INTRODUCTION OF THE INNOVATION:

To improve student learning with "hands-on" experiences in the subject of chaos.

TEACHING/LEARNING AIMS:

Students are able to apply the theory concepts discussed in lectures using core codes presented in the Mathematica notebooks. This avoids tedious programming so that the students can concentrate on physics and insight. Students can explore the fractals and chaotic behaviors by changing various parameters in the equations to observe the change in the results. Moreover, the core codes are related to theoretical models described in the lectures in a transparent way and thus can be easily extended by students to study different chaotic systems.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES:

Transparent; easy to modify and to extend; cover the most essential concepts in the subject.

USE:

10 students are in the class. A maximum limit to class size would be 15-20.

Versions of the software are available for Macintosh, PC and UNIX platforms. The Notebooks can be developed on a Macintosh and viewed on a PC. Mathematica is used for high-level computation by physicists making it an ideal computer assisted learning tool.

STUDENT SUPPORT:

The lecturer is available during the lab for student support.

ASSESSMENT:

Course assessment is 100% through assignments. The questions are attached to the Mathematica notebook distributed at the beginning of each lecture/lab session. These exercises can be submitted by email or printed hard copies.

EVALUATION:

SPOT results indicate that the students enjoy the interaction through Mathematica and they have asked for more sessions for this course.

EFFECTIVENESS:

There is better quality feedback from the students by scheduling the lab directly after the lecture with the possibility of clarification by the lecturer. Direct contact with the students in the laboratory sessions is a very effective way of teaching .

HINDRANCES TO DEVELOPING INNOVATION:

Students have had some difficulty learning to use the software in parallel with chaos theory. An initial 2 hour introduction to the use of Mathematica will be provided to subsequent classes.

ENABLERS TO DEVELOPING INNOVATION:

Support from Paul Abbott, Ian Mcarthur and the Head of Department helped in the development of this unit.

COST/BENEFITS:

The university has a site license for Mathematica and student copies are available for ~$100. The biggest cost is the time required to develop the course material.

LESSONS LEARNT:

It is essential to have a good balance between theory concepts and computer experiments.

|top of page|

visitors since 20/6/97