Focus on Physics - Computers in the Introductory Laboratory

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The primary aim of this project is to create a modern laboratory environment for the introductory physics student in which the student is allowed to focus his or her attention as completely as possible on the physics of the system under study. A secondary aim of this project is to create a technologically literate introductory student. These have meant removing the distractions of poorly functioning equipment, outmoded data collection techniques, and mathematical tedium. These have meant adding the support of up-to-date computers, electronic data collection via a variety of transducers, and software for sophisticated data analysis. This new laboratory environment has been put into place and it allows the student to identify more easily the underlying physical principles in a wider range of real-world phenomena than was possible with the previously existing equipment, thus the students understanding of physics and its relevance to his or her own field of interest has been improved. Care has been exercised in the design of laboratory experiments so that the student can use the power of this technologically advanced equipment without treating it as just another blackbox. In achieving the aims of this project, one ensures that the physics student of today will approach the problems of tomorrow with a better grasp of physical principles underlying those problems and of the technology necessary to solve them.