Professors who teach rigid body dynamics are often wary and skeptical of the role that computing technology can play in their classrooms. For many there is a misplaced belief that learning and problem solving can only be achieved by using a ""pen and paper"" approach. For students, practicing the techniques taught in a class on rigid body dynamics usually starts with small-scale tutorial questions, which lend themselves nicely to that same pen-and-paper approach. However, as the scale of the problems increases, so too do the analytical computations associated with the derivations, and for many students this causes them to disengage—and in doing so missing an opportunity to validate their understanding of the underlying concepts.

Using a gyroscopic boat stabilization system as a design case study, a computational thinking approach to problem solving is demonstrated. MATLAB Live scripts are combined with symbolic computing, allowing the conceptual steps of the equation of motion derivation to be clearly defined. Because the laborious computations are not being done by hand, students are liberated to apply and explore concepts while they're formulating the solution.

Once the equations of motion of the gyroscopic boat stabilization system are derived, Simulink is used to implement the hand-derived equations, allowing the students to see the cause-and-effect behavior for this system. A Simscape Multibody model is also introduced as a mechanism to compare their hand derivations.

One of the challenges that students often face when learning and applying new concepts is making associations with knowledge prior learned—i.e., “How does what I already know help me to understand/apply this new thing?” Computational thinking is a problem-solving process that helps students make the connections between concepts already understood, and the extension/application of that knowledge, for learning new things. When done right, a computational thinking approach not only shows a student how to get from A to B, but it can also give them the confidence and desire for continued learning and problem solving. MATLAB and Simulink enable a computational thinking approach to learning.

This is an EDU audience–focused demo, specifically for engagement with mechanical/mechatronics classes on rigid body dynamics.