Computer simulations as concrete models for student reasoning

In many thermal physics courses, students become preoccupied with the manipulations of differentials and partial derivatives in thermodynamics and integrals and sums in statistical mechanics. One problem is the lack of concrete models that will help provide physical insight into the mathematics. For example, the internal energy U has little meaning to most students. We have used discussions of computer simulations to provide concrete models for students as well as applications of abstract ideas such as thermal averages, entropy, probability distributions, and density of states. I will discuss how to use discussions of molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo, and histogram simulations in thermal physics courses.