Developing Computational Activities for Sophomore-Level Methods Courses

This talk describes a series of more than ten computational activities developed and adapted for sophomore-level Mathematical Methods and Experimental Physics courses. These activities reinforce course topics including: algebraic operations on real and complex numbers, numeric solving of ordinary differential equations, symbolic computation (integration, differentiation, and matrix operations), Fourier Series/Transforms, Monte Carlo methods, numerical methods for partial differential equations, plotting, and curve fitting. Activities are written in python using Jupyter Notebooks due to their free availability, flexibility, and growing popularity in physics research. We discuss how free computing resources provided through the Ohio Supercomputer Center's Classroom OnDemand system allow students to remotely connect to a cloud-based Jupyter environment on laptops, tablets, and Chromebooks. Activities will be shared with the audience to use in their own courses.