Teaching Introductory Physics through Visual Computational Models

The creation and development of visual computational models can facilitate a student’s understanding of introductory physics and engineering. Through the exposure of simple programming instructions and scripts, students are engaged in developing 3D visual computational models that describe physical systems. Using Visual Python, a real-time 3D model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system was developed to explore Newton’s laws of motion and vector addition. A rocket with a mission to the moon was implemented to make the model more appealing to the student. This model and its further development is discussed.