Students pitch baseballs, whack bowling balls with rubber hammers, pull objects up inclined planes, ignite paper with compressed air, attempt to spin themselves in pirouettes, and devise engine cycles with rubber bands. They measure these interesting operations with various sensors connected to the computers by a universal interface developed by Dickinson faculty and their collaborators. Students use their measurements to test their hypotheses about the physical world. All this work is guided by a faculty member and two undergraduate teaching assistants. The learning occurs in a specially-designed space which facilitates student inquiry and faculty interaction.
Students learn by doing and by reflecting on what they have done.
Grouped in pairs before computer in specially designed laboratories, students proceed from informal to guided inquiry with the assistance of a faculty member who prods students toward meaningful understanding through questioning, conversation and summary discussion. The workshop approach requires that students become active learners. Instead of watching instructors solve problems and then trying to mimic these solutions, students must construct their own mathematical ideas based upon their manipulations of a variety of software packages that present students with real-world applications and genuine data. The introductory computer science course at Dickinson minimizes the role of lectures and instead stresses the hands-on process of solving problems on a computer. In addition to general discussions on the history and organization of computers, students spend most of their time working directly on the computer, which leads them to explore the patterns and techniques of computer programming.