Applying Computational Science To Educationthe Molecular Workbench Paradigm

摘要

The Molecular Workbench offers highly interactive molecular dynamics simulations to help students learn difficult scientific concepts. The software demonstrates how scientists can transform research tools into educational tools. Research studies show that students learn better using computational models. Computational models help students learn important concepts about complex systems without having to master abstract, formal treatments of these systems. Curricula based on students learning concepts by exploring computational models could revolutionize education because it would let teachers introduce the concepts earlier and would help students better understand them. The skills that students acquire as they create, use, test, and interpret computational models are exactly the skills needed by science and engineering professionals. Thus, it's vital to understand how sophisticated computational models can be extensively used in education. Molecular dynamics (MD) is a compute-intensive technique widely used in scientific research.1 The Molecular Workbench expands upon MD's educational use by combining a powerful computational engine, a versatile authoring environment, and other subsystems such as embedded assessment that support learning. As such, it provides an important case study of how we can use techniques and tools from current research in computational methods to illuminate how additional computational applications could greatly improve how we teach complex concepts.