IOLAB: Using Technology to Transform Introductory Physics Labs

本计画旨在发展、评估及推广一种创新的网路互动实验学习方法，以供物理导论课程之用。在SmartLab学习软件和在线数据库的指导和评估下，学生可以在家里、宿舍、教室等任何地方进行动手实验，从而测量现实世界中的事物。SmartLab方法的核心是一种小型且廉价的无线探头，该探头与私营企业合作开发，能够快速准确地测量位移、速度、加速度、力、磁场和电位差。这些数据通过无线链路发送到运行SmartLab应用程序的个人电脑上，该应用程序还与在线数据库通信，以检索精心设计的课程计划。该软件引导学生完成课程，记录和分析他们获得的数据，并实时反馈学生的动手活动表现以及学生对课程中嵌入问题的回答。美国国家科学基金会支持该项目的一个主要重点是物理教育研究工作，以实际优化SmartLab方法，同时研究不同使用方法的利弊。研究人员正在确定SmartLab实践活动如何影响关键物理概念的保留，因为它们几乎与概念介绍同时进行。这些研究对于在大学、学院和高中为这种新方法建立良好的教学基础起着关键作用。SmartLab为学生提供了一个完整的动手实验体验，在一个时间和地点，最大限度地提高学习体验，无论是在讲座之前，每周家庭作业的一部分，还是在现有的实验期间。除了为传统物理课程提供一个强大的工具外，SmartLab在目前不提供实践经验的课程中具有巨大的潜力，例如学生在线学习的课程，或者预算或空间限制的课程。SmartLab方法固有的可扩展性，再加上教师只需投入很少的时间和资源就可以采用，这意味着它对美国物理教育的影响可能会在短时间内变得显著。

This project is developing, evaluating, and disseminating an innovative online approach to interactive laboratory learning for introductory physics courses. SmartLab allows students to measure things in the real world by facilitating hands-on experiments anywhere - in their home, in their dorm, in their classroom - guided and evaluated by the SmartLab learning software and online database. At the heart of the SmartLab approach is a small and inexpensive wireless probe, developed in collaboration with private industry, which has the ability to rapidly perform accurate measurements of displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, magnetic fields, and potential differences. These data are sent over a wireless link to a PC running the SmartLab application which also communicates with an online database to retrieve carefully designed lesson plans. The software guides students through the lesson, recording and analyzing the data they acquire, and provides real-time feedback on the student's performance of the hands-on activities as well as the student's answers to questions embedded in the lesson. A primary focus of NSF support for this project is a physics education research effort to practically optimize the SmartLab approach while studying the pros and cons of differing methods of utilization. Researchers are determining how the retention of key physics concepts is impacted by hands-on SmartLab activities, as they are performed at nearly the same time as the conceptual introduction. Such research plays a key role in building a sound pedagogical footing for this new approach in universities, colleges and high schools. SmartLab enables a complete hands-on laboratory experience for students to perform at a time and place that maximizes the learning experience, whether this is before a lecture, part of a weekly homework assignment, or during an existing lab period. In addition to providing a powerful tool for traditional physics courses, SmartLab has tremendous potential for courses which currently do not offer a hands-on experience, such as those taken by students online, or courses where budget or space constraints preclude a lab. The inherently scalable nature of the SmartLab approach, combined with the fact that it can be adopted by faculty members with a very modest investment in time and resources, means its impact on American physics education may become significant on a short timescale.