Inventing Concepts and Solving Problems in Labs

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During the past 7 years, the Department of Physics has made two major reforms in its laboratory program for the introductory calculus-based physics course. The first effort in 1989 involved the introduction of the microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) tools into instruction in the first quarter of the course. The second effort built on the first and extended the use of the MBL tools into the second and third quarters. In addition, a series of new activities were developed in which students first acquired important concepts of physics using a guided-inquiry approach. Students then in later laboratories used these concepts quantitatively to solve more complex experiment problems. The innovations supported by the present project permit integration of interactive simulations and multimedia into this laboratory learning system. These simulation activities supplement the experiments and allow more efficient use of the limited time that is available to achieve learning objectives. The simulations that accompany real experiments build student confidence in the authenticity of the simulated world. By observing multiple representations of processes, students have a better chance of developing imagery and intuition for the abstract symbolic representations used in physics. By observing a complex process in slow motion, they become better at breaking it in parts, solving the parts, and reassembling them to answer the big questions. By predicting how the change in a parameter affects a process, they become better at reasoning about physical processes. In summary, the supplementary simulations help students see how the computer can be a useful modeling tool for real-world processes.