Light Inquiry Through Experiments: Project LITE

物理（13）本项目继续9950551号项目下的工作。该项目正在开发、评估和传播以光、光学、颜色和感知的本质为中心的教育设备、软件和课程材料。该项目的主要创新是将关于光的“家庭实验室”引入大学科学课程。这些探究式的、定量的实验室体验是为学生设计的，让他们在自己家里进行实验。许多这样的活动利用了计算机的独特特性，允许学生使用廉价的光学材料来操纵、探索和研究来自显示器的光。在LITE项目的“概念验证”阶段（由NSF奖号9950551资助），研究人员对这些家庭实验室进行了初步开发和测试。家庭实验的基本教育目标是鼓励个性化的动手（和“眼睛”）学习。家庭实验室的使用还寻求缓解许多大型、入门级、非专业大学科学课程所面临的主要资源问题，这些问题源于实验室空间、设备和助教的有限可用性。波士顿大学正在开发和测试LITE项目材料。通过将个人实验室纳入社区学院、大学和高中的天文学、生物学、化学、地球科学、物理学、心理学等课程，以及为职前教师开设的科学课程，正在扩大个人实验室的全国影响。家庭实验室对远程教育、家庭学习和成人继续教育也很有用。

Physics (13)This project continues work begun under Award No. 9950551.The project is developing, evaluating, and disseminating educational devices, software, and curriculum materials that center on the nature of light, optics, color, and perception. The major innovation of the project is the introduction of "homelabs" about light into college science courses. These inquiry-based, quantitative laboratory experiences are designed for students to perform in their own homes. Many of these activities take advantage of the unique properties of computers, allowing students to use inexpensive optical materials to manipulate, explore, and study the light coming from their monitors. In the Project LITE "proof-of-concept" phase (funded through NSF Award No. 9950551), the investigators conducted the initial development and testing of a number of these homelabs.The basic educational goal of the homelabs is to encourage individualized hands-on (and "eyes-on") learning. The use of homelabs also seeks to alleviate a major resource problem faced by many large, introductory-level, non-majors university science courses, arising from the limited availability of laboratory space, equipment, and teaching assistants.Project LITE materials are being developed and tested at Boston University. The national impact of individual homelabs is being extended by integrating them into community college, university, and high school courses in astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, and psychology, as well as into science courses for pre-service teachers. The homelabs are also useful for distance education, home learning, and adult continuing education.