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Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Cano, M. J. (2023). 2015-Cano-EtAl-Bringing partial differential equations to life for students. SIMIODE, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/A13D-XW81

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Cano, María José Eliseo Chacón-Vera, and Francisco Esquembre. 2015.  Bringing partial differential equations to life for students. European Journal of Physics. 26: 1-15.

https://www.um.es/freefem/ff++/uploads/Main/BringingPDEStoLifePaper.pdf . Accessed 29 March 2023.

Abstract: Teaching partial differential equations (PDEs) carries inherent difficulties that an interactive visualization might help overcome in an active learning process. However, the generation of this kind of teaching material implies serious difficulties, mainly in terms of coding efforts. This work describes how to use an authoring tool, Easy Java Simulations, to build interactive simulations using FreeFem++ (Hecht F 2012 J. Numer. Math. 20 251) as a PDE solver engine. It makes possible to build simulations where students can change parameters, the geometry and the equations themselves getting an immediate feedback. But it is also possible for them to edit the simulations to set deeper changes. The process is illustrated with some basic examples. These simulations show PDEs in a pedagogic manner and can be tuned by no experts in the field, teachers or students. Finally, we report a classroom experience and a survey from the third year students in the Degree of Mathematics at the University of Murcia.

Keywords: authoring tools and methods, physical modelling, improving classroom teaching