Inquiry-Based Physics Lab for Under-Prepared South Carolina State University Students

许多学生开始他们的本科生涯，在科学相当薄弱的背景。 因此，他们中的许多人无法掌握物理学的概念基础，传统物理实验室实验中连续步骤的基本原理，以及标准数据分析背后的推理。这两个缺点正在通过用引导探究实验室取代传统的物理实验室来纠正。 以探究为基础的实验室正在模仿一个成功的以微机为基础的实验室。 研究人员已经证明，使用计算机的快速数据采集能力来立即面对学生的直觉，结果是概念性的理解远远上级传统实验室的理解。 这是因为实验室的重点从数据收集转移到数据解释和科学思维。 学生们在学期开始和结束时进行长达一小时的力概念清单测试，以评估基于探究的实验室在传授物理概念方面的有效性。 这个测试是衡量一个学生是否形成了牛顿世界观的标准。 建立一个基于探究的物理实验室可以为其他面临向准备不足的学生教授物理问题的学院和大学提供一个模式。 实验室的经验可以通过在适当的期刊上发表文章和在会议上发表演讲来传播。 *

Many students begin their undergraduate careers with rather weak backgrounds in science. Consequently, many of them fail to grasp the conceptual basis of physics, the rationale for the successive steps in a traditional physics laboratory experiment, and the reasoning behind standard data analyses. Both of these shortcomings are being rectified by replacing the conventional physics laboratory with a guided-inquiry laboratory. The inquiry-based laboratory is being patterned after a successful microcomputer-based laboratory. Researchers have demonstrated that using the computer's fast data-acquisition capabilities to instantly confront the students' intuition results in a conceptual understanding vastly superior to that developed in traditional laboratories. This result is because emphasis in the laboratory is shifted from data collection to data interpretation and scientific thinking. Students are being given the hour-long Force Concept Inventory test at the beginning and end of the semester to evaluate the effectiveness of the inquiry-based laboratory in imparting physical concepts. The test is a standard measure of whether or not a student has developed a Newtonian world view. Instituting an inquiry-based physics laboratory serves as a model for other colleges and universities faced with the problem of teaching physics to insufficiently prepared students. Experiences with the laboratory can be disseminated by articles in appropriate journals, and by conference presentations. *