Integrating computation into physics courses: Does it prepare students for computational physics research?

The movement to make computation a normal part of the undergraduate physics curriculum seems to have taken root (more than four decades after it was suggested [1]) . Integrated environments like code notebooks, cross-platform languages like Python, and web-based collaboration software have reduced the implementation barrier.   Challenges of making room in the over-stuffed, standard curriculum are dwarfed by benefits, old and new.  One benefit is preparing students to embark on state-of-the-art research in computational physics (CP). Recent surveys of CP communities of practice [2] have compared the needs of research mentors with the structure of undergraduate courses in CP.  We will discuss these as well as surveys in progress, which address computation integrated into normal physics courses. 

[1] A. Bork (1978).  Computers as an aid to increasing physical intuition, Am. J. Phys. 46, 796-800.

[2] D.M. Caballero (2015). Computation across the curriculum: What skills are needed? [Online: arxiv.org/pdf/1507.00533.pdf]; A.L. Graves and A.D. Light (2020). Hitting the Ground Running: Computational Physics Education to Prepare Students for Computational Physics Research, Computing in Sci. and Eng. 22, 50-59.