Instrumentation for Freshman Physics Lab - The Study of Motion

华盛顿大学正在启动一项重大计划，以改善入门级科学课程。正如大学教务长所说，一个主要的目标是改进实验课程，并要求所有参加讲座课程的学生也必须参加相应的实验课程。物理课程解决了两个问题：改进实验课程，并为增加实验室招生做准备。物理计划从改进导论课程中的力学实验室实验开始。参与该项目的教职员工在过去几年中一直致力于开发基于计算机的实验，这些实验为学生提供了研究一维和二维运动的新机会，使用的工具比以前更准确、更通用。到目前为止，这些实验在实验室部分进行测试的经验表明，学生能够研究更广泛的现象，对运动概念有更深的理解。国家科学基金会的支持被用来匹配大学提供的资金，用于购买工作站（PC 386/SX）和两个运动数字化设备：一个视频系统和光学编码器。这些元素被整合到一个“运动测量站”中，形成了一个实验室测量和分析系统的主干。美国国家科学基金会的拨款正与来自非联邦来源的资金相匹配。

The University of Washington is initiating a major program to improve entry-level science courses. A major goal, as stated by the University Provost, is improvement of laboratory courses, and the requirement that all students enrolled in the lecture course shall also take the corresponding laboratory course. The program in Physics is addressing both issues: improvement of thelaboratory courses, and preparing for increased laboratory enrollment. The Physics plan begins with improvements in the mechanics laboratory experiments in introductory courses. Faculty and staff who are participants in this project have been working for the past few years developing computer-based experiments that provide new opportunities for students to investigate motion in one and two dimensions with much more accurate and versatile tools than were previously available. The experience to date with lab sections where these experiments were tested shows that students are able to investigate a much wider range of phenomena with a deeper understanding of the concepts of motion. NSF support is being utilized to match the University funds provided to purchase workstations (PC 386/SX) and two motion digitizing devices: a video system and optical encoders. These elements are being integrated in a "motion measurement station" and form the backbone of a laboratory measurement and analysis system.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.