Application of Computing Tools and PC-Instrumentation for Science Students: Enhanced Learning Through Visualization and Exploration

许多学生认为科学既难又乏味。这个项目的目标是通过计算机应用程序使学习科学和数学更容易和更有趣。该项目有三个具体目标：(1)向学生介绍用于数据采集的pc驱动仪器，(2)向学生介绍使他们能够从视觉上和数学上解释困难的科学概念和过程的计算工具，以及(3)为他们准备市场技能。我们建议开设两门实验课程：科学实验用pc仪器和探索科学计算工具。这些课程将向学生介绍市场上常用的工具。使用pc仪器，费力的人工测量和数据记录将被自动化数据采集所取代。学生可以很容易地改变他们的调查参数，并观察他们的变化的效果。使用数学Cad等计算工具，学生可以轻松地绘制和可视化困难的概念，并更好地理解其基本原理。更重要的是，电子书是可用的，当与计算工具一起使用时，使它成为一个很好的学习工具。学生可以操纵“实时”数据/公式，并“实时”地将变化可视化。学习这些工具是本课程不可缺少的实验活动。在这个项目中，我们将改进现有的实验室，以配备最先进的计算和pc仪器工具。本项目的主要受益者是高二、低三理科学生以及职前理科教师。这个项目很重要，因为(1)学生将学习的工具在许多科学课程中都很有用，(2)学生在使用工具方面学到的技能是有市场的，因为它们是市场上使用的相同工具。* * * *

*** 9751135 Sy Many students perceive science difficult and tedious. The objective of this project is to make learning science and math easier and more interesting by means of computer applications. There are three specific goals of this project: (1) introduce students to PC-driven instrumentation for data acquisition, (2) introduce students to computing tools that allow them to interpret difficult science concepts and processes visually as well as mathematically, and (3) prepare them with skills for the marketplace. We propose to develop curricula of two laboratory courses: PC-instrumentation for science experiments, and exploring scientific computing tools. These courses will introduce students to tools that are commonly used in the marketplace. Using PC-instrumentation, laborious manual measurements and data recording will be replaced by automated data acquisition. Students can easily vary the parameters of their investigation and observe the effect of their changes. Using computing tools like Math Cad, students can easily graph and visualize difficult concepts and better understand the underlying principles. More importantly, electronic books are available, and, when being used with the computing tool, make it an excellent learning tool. Students can manipulate "live" data/ formula and visualize the change "on-the-fly. " Learning these tools are indispensable laboratory activities of the courses. In this project, we will improve an existing lab to equip with state-of- art computing and PC-instrumentation tools. The main beneficiaries of this project are upper sophomore and lower junior science students, as well as pre-service science teachers. This project is significant because (1) the tools students will learn are useful in many science courses, and (2) the skills students learned on using tools are marketable because they are the same tools used in the market place. * ***