Learning science (and mathematics) with mathematical modelling: can students learn by doing?

Abstract

Using computers as learning tools is becoming more and more common. There are many reasons for this, particularly those related to the fact that computers are a window to the networked world of information and knowledge. But in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and particularly in Physics, there are other reasons: computers are now an inevitable tool in the advancement of knowledge. Unfortunately, this is not yet true in most school curricula, where common practices still tend to reduce learning of STEM subjects to the rote accumulation of facts and rules, without emphasizing how knowledge and ideas are created and tested.