  Single particle energy states as described by nuclear shell model are
obtained for doubly magic nuclei using Gnumeric worksheet environment. Numerov
method rephrased in matrix form is utilised to solve time-independent
Schrodinger equation (TISE) within mean-field approximation, described by
Woods-Saxon (WS) potential along with spin-orbit term, to obtain the single
particle energies for both neutron and proton states. The WS model parameters
are chosen from previous simulation results performed using matrix methods
technique involving sine basis, where optimization was done w.r.t available
experimental single particle energies for 208Pb and 48Ca. In this paper, only
the algorithm parameters, step size h and matrix size N are optimized to obtain
the expected energy level sequence obtained using matrix methods. An attempt is
made, by incorporating this tool within the framework of guided inquiry
strategy (a constructivist approach to learning), to actively engage the
students in assigning appropriate spin-parity configurations for ground states
of nuclei neighbouring the doubly magic ones. It has been observed that the
ground state configurations could be better predicted when energy level
sequences are known for all nuclei as compared to what is usually obtained from
that of 208Pb alone.
