9452597 Loxsom The general curriculum, introductory, and upper division courses in physics, geology and mathematics will be revised so that they introduce and use a common set of computational software tools as an integral part of their instructional activities. This development process will seek to duplicate the success achieved by the revision of laboratory courses in physics (including general curriculum, introductory, upper division and research courses) so that they now introduce and use, in a systematic and coherent manner, a set of data-acquisition and data analysis software tools (Lab VIEW, Kaleidagraph, and IGOR). In the project described here we will use five computational tools: a simulation package (STELLA), a statistical package (Mini tab), a numerical calculation program (Mat Lab), a symbolic algebra package (Mathematica) and a programming language (C++). We will integrate these packages into the physics, geology and mathematics curricula at all levels. Students involved in research in all three departments will use these software tools. A major outcome of the project is that the faculty and students in physics, geology and mathematics will share ideas for improving science education.
