The computer is revolutionizing the teaching of physics, both in the laboratory and in the classroom. A computer-integrated approach in the classroom allows students to study in detail situations where analytic solutions are impossible. It also frees them from tedious hand calculations, thus allowing more time for consideration of the essential aspects of the problem.The computer revolution has been under way for some time in the Furman Physics Department, where we have begun to use computer simulations as classroom demonstrations, to give course assignments involving computer-aided computation and graphing, to use computer-interfaced laboratory equipment for the collection and analysis of data, and to work with students on individual computer-related projects. This award is providing the computer hardware and software needed to expand our current usage of the computer to involve all students taking courses in three target areas: classical physics, quantum mechanics, and computational physics. Specifically, the award has provided an eight station networked computer facility with a file server, compute server host, along with general-purpose and applications software.
