Preliminary study on development of practicum module for algorithms and computer programming course

Physics is part of Natural Sciences. Studying physics is inseparable from the existence of quantities. Quantities itself are anything that can be measured and expressed in numbers. These numbers then give birth to an empirical formula and a model that represents physical phenomena in nature. Physics students are expected to master, understand, and be able to apply physics knowledge to find solutions to physical problems. Lately, the use of computers has been integrated in almost all aspects of science, including physics. Based on these conditions, a computer-assisted calculation method known as a computational method has developed which is very precise and can involve large amounts of empirical data. On this basis, the Algorithm and Computer Programming Course was born, which focuses on providing programming skills to physics students so that they are able to use computers to calculate existing empirical physics formulas and mathematical models and for this purpose, critical and creative thinking skills are needed. The research carried out is a type of research and development (R&D) using the 4-D Model. This paper presents the results of research that has been carried out and shows the need for a needs analysis and the urgency of changing the use of a new programming language for students to better understand algorithms and coding. Data were collected by distributing questionnaires and analyzing literature.