Enhancing Physics Laboratories with Microcomputers

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After several years of planning, the Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics Department is conducting a project for enhancing physics laboratories with microcomputers. The project can dramatically change the way physics laboratories are taught at the college. Currently, the students work through a series of lab assignments by carefully following detailed sets of procedures. The students find the assignments to be tedious at times and, as a result, they often lose track of the objective by focusing on the procedure. The collection of data is slow, and the results are often inaccurate. With the acquisition of microcomputer stations for data collection and data analysis, students can work on lab assignments in ways that are more similar to how scientists work in their laboratories. Each assignment has an explicit written objective without an explicit procedure. Students are shown how the new equipment works and how to navigate through the software, but it is incumbent on them to find ways to attain the written objective. The collection of data is fast, and measurements are accurate. Many trials can be performed in one lab period. Once the basic equipment and software are understood and mastered, students are adequately prepared to begin a slew of lab assignments without the need for continual guidance from an instructor. The change is intended for the biology, chemistry, and engineering majors in Introductory General Physics I and II; the sports medicine majors in Basic Physics; and the engineering and computer science majors in Computers in the Laboratory.