Computational thinking is a natural thing to incorporate into physics and astronomy. Students can learn to create interactive models, create, collect, and visualize datasets, and ask questions that only make sense to answer with a computer. Participants will hear about current research in computational thinking using coding, where science pedagogy can leverage computer science pedagogy to allow students to construct knowledge in both domains. Some model activities using computer programming and lessons incorporating computational thinking will be shared and discussed. All code is available as open source, and all lessons are shared as Creative Commons material.
Here is a list of the coding-based labs and activities I have used in physics and astronomy. There are not really in any kind of order. All work is shared via the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Feel free to use the content here for non-commercial purposes, but be sure to provide attribution.
| Hubble Diagram using SDSS Data | Astronomy | Modeling/Data Science |
| Measuring Distance with Light | Astronomy | Modeling |
| Relative Abundance of Europium with Spectroscopy | Astronomy | Modeling |
| Air Drag Modeling with p5js | Physics | Modeling |
| HR Diagram Introduction | Astronomy | Modeling/Data Science |
| Kepler’s 3rd Law | Astronomy | Modeling/Data Science |
| Air Drag Analysis: Video vs Modeling | Physics | Physics |
| RET 2021 Modeling Air Drag with Unity vs p5js | Physics | Physics |
| Exploring Simple Circuits | Physics | Physical computing |
| Micro:bit Stoplight Lab | Phyics | Physical computing |
| Capacitors in Series and Parallel | Physics | Physical computing |
| Photoplethysmography with Microcontrollers | Physics | Physical computing |