The second session I led at the DuPage County Science Institute was on Computational Modeling with VPython.

I tried to explain what computational modeling is and how it is more than just programming. I then encouraged teachers to use computational modeling in their classroom and shared why I think it improves student learning.

We used [VPython](http://www.vpython.org/index.html) and the [physutils package](https://per.gatech.edu/wiki/doku.php?id=projects:hscomp:physutil).

We started with [John Burk’s](http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/) [1-dMotionSimulation.py example](https://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/bringing-computational-modeling-into-first-year-high-school-physics/). I then asked each teacher to modify the model in some way and observe the results.

I then presented [several starting examples](https://github.com/gcschmit/vpython-physics) that I created for my AP Physics B class and shared how students built upon these examples to solve everything from homework problems to their [projectile motion lab practicum](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/204/projectile-motion-lab-practicum-and-computational-modeling/).

I left lots of time for teachers to explore these starting examples and help each other and get help from me. I saw teachers unfamiliar with Python create some pretty cool models in very little time.

Here are the slides I used to introduce computational modeling:

Download (PDF, 4.05MB)

Here are the links to the resources that I displayed at the end of the session:

* [Georgia Tech PER Group](https://per.gatech.edu/wiki/doku.php?id=projects:hscomp:physutil)
* [my GitHub](https://github.com/gcschmit/vpython-physics)
* [John Burk’s blog](https://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/computational-modeling/)
* [Integrating Numerical Computation into the Modeling Instruction Curriculum](http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.0844) by Caballero, Burk, et al.