Computing in Science Education receives learning environment award
Professor Hans Petter
Langtangen and his colleagues in the Computing
in Science Education project at the University of Oslo recently received
the UiO learning environment award on the occasion of the University’s 200th
anniversary.
– This is a great honor and an acknowledgment of many years of systematic work with modernizing our science education, says Langtangen.
The Computing in Science Education project involves a broad collaboration at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, where Langtangen holds his professorship. The project is lead by professor Knut Mørken, and several other professors from the various subject areas have been active in developing the project since 2003.
The aim of the project is to integrate scientific computing in science courses throughout the bachelor study. Mathematical computations have always played a central role in natural science subjects, but in the traditional university education, computations are limited to what one can do with pencil and paper.
– Now we start already in the first semester with utilizing the computer to do demanding computations. This allows the students to adopt the modern working style from research and industry, where technology and natural phenomena are investigated using the computer as a virtual laboratory. In this laboratory, reality is described as equations, which are effectively solved by modern scientific computing methods. Even undergraduate courses early in the study can then bring the students in contact with realistic and relevant problems from industry and society, says Langtangen.
Langtangen points out that it is particularly inspiring to see that the methods and software tools developed in the scientific computing research activity at Simula are now of direct practical use in the basic university education.
The Computing in Science Education project has grown to be a new inter-disciplinary area for discussing teaching methods and how the university education must be reformed to ensure alignment with society’s need for knowledge and qualifications. There is broad international interest in the achievements from this project, and the Government has taken actions to implement the new ideas at other Norwegian universities and engineering colleges.
Read more:
- Mandate for the national work group appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research
- The Computing in Science
Education project
- UiO's announcement of the award winner (in Norwegian)
- Professor Langtangen's profile page
