Enhancing Computational Instruction for Physics Majors: Developing Tools for Assessment

Computer programming is an essential skill for physics majors seeking employment in a highly technological world. The advent of "big data" in business, engineering, and traditional STEM fields requires graduates proficient in data acquisition, storage, manipulation, and analysis. Physics departments are responding to this trend by integrating computational instruction into their undergraduate programs, but questions remain regarding the effectiveness of this training. In the Department of Physics and Astronomy at James Madison University, we have developed a set of learning objectives related to computational skills and integrated these objectives throughout our curriculum, primarily in laboratory courses. Our team has also developed an assessment tool, consisting of multiple choice and free response questions, that can quantitatively measure students' computational skills within the context of physics. We have now administered the assessment to four cohorts of senior physics majors, providing valuable data on the efficacy of our curriculum changes and on the validity of our assessment instrument. We will discuss both the successes and challenges we encountered as we seek to enhance computational instruction and evaluate student learning improvement in our department.