An Introductory Laboratory With Modern Data Acquisition and Analysis

物理课程目前支持一个介绍性的实验室环境，鼓励学生设计他们自己的实验方法来解决问题，并以非正式的方式交流这些方法。实验室活动在很大程度上以探索性计划活动为导向，强调数据的图形呈现和分析。学生指导的实验设计与图形分析相结合，要求必须快速获取和分析大量数据。为了支持这一需求，实验室正在引入10个联网的基于微型计算机的数据采集和分析系统，以及各种传感器。每台微型计算机都提供了一个面向图标的界面(Lab-View)，该界面由虚拟仪器和虚拟探头组成，这些虚拟仪器和探头可以示意性地链接起来，以反映个别学生对实验问题的处理方法。高级命令允许学生以他们认为最有意义的方式获取、显示和分析数据。计算环境足够强大，可以根据需要包括新的探测器，从而为更高级的学生提供额外的激励，以尝试替代的实验策略。以图标为导向的界面的灵活性还允许实验室优雅地适应新的实验和个人的学习方式，从而提高学生的科学技能和概念理解能力。

The physics program presently supports an introductory laboratory environment which encourages students to design their own experimental approaches to problems and communicate those approaches in an informal manner. Laboratory activities are heavily oriented toward exploratory planning activities with an emphasis on graphical presentation and analysis of data. The student directed experimental design coupled with graphical analysis requires that large amounts of data must be rapidly acquired, and analyzed. To support this need 10 networked micro-computer based data acquisition and analysis systems, together with a variety of sensors, are being introduced in the laboratory. Each micro-computer provides an icon oriented interface (Lab-View) consisting of virtual instruments and virtual probes that may be schematically linked to reflect individual student approaches toward an experimental problem. High level commands allow the students to acquire, display, and analyze data ways which they find most meaningful. The computing environment is sufficiently powerful to include new probes as demand warrants, and thus provides added incentive for more advanced students to attempt alternative experimental strategies. The flexibility in the icon oriented interface also allows the laboratory to gracefully adapt to new experiments and to individual learning styles, thereby enhancing student development of science skills and concept understanding.