Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement

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The Department of Physics is developing a new laboratory sequence for a new physics-for-life-science-students course. The lecture part of the course has been completely reconstructed with a fully detailed course syllabus on a lecture by lecture basis using only physics relevant to the life sciences and amply illustrated with life-science examples. An appropriate lab sequence using modern tools of physics, computer acquisition and analysis of data, and experimental examples relevant to life science majors has been developed and pilot tested on trial classes with 50 to 200 students. Some of the experiments are biceps muscle model, ion transport, color perception, and heat transport, besides the more usual kinematics, Newton Second Law, electrostatics, and circuits. The lab grading system is being revised to give the students more freedom to work at their own speed and style. The lab sequence is being expanded to serve 100 life science students at UCLA. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a textbook and lab handbook which will be made available nationwide. *