Laboratory Modernization: Stage 2, Electricity and Magnetism

该项目支持对所有科学专业和预备工程师（每年约80名学生）的物理入门课程后半部分的实验室进行重大重组。这是自1990年开始的对这些专业的入门级实验室序列的重组的继续。本系设有波浪运动、电学与磁学、光学、现代物理四个实验单元，每个单元需3 - 4周完成。每个模块包含几个创新实验，这些实验每周进行一次，直到所有学生完成该模块。这种安排减少了单个实验的设置数量，从而大大降低了大学及其赞助商的成本。这个项目专门针对模块2，电和磁。经典实验与新方法相结合，向学生介绍物理情况下指数衰减的概念，传输线中脉冲的行为，以及基本常数的实验测定。这些练习鼓励创造性的好奇心，并在很大程度上依赖于计算机所带来的分析技术的使用。与每个人在同一时间做同样的实验的传统方法相比，该模块代表了一个更松散的实验室结构。学生之间相互讨论的参与和创造性好奇心的增强应该在一个不那么结构化的环境中更容易发生。该项目在形成性和总结性评价中使用学生焦点小组、调查工具和观察。传播产品包括课程材料、软件、实验室手册和最终评估报告。

This project supports a major reorganization of the laboratories for the second half of the introductory physics sequence for all science majors and pre-engineers (approximately 80 students each year). This continues the restructuring, begun in 1990, of the introductory laboratory sequence for these majors. The department is organizing four laboratory modules, Wave Motion, Electricity and Magnetism, Optics, and Modern Physics, each requiring 3 to 4 weeks to complete. Each module contains several innovative experiments that are run weekly until the module is completed by all of the students. This arrangement reduces the number of setups for an individual experiment, resulting in significant cost reductions to the university and its sponsors. This project specifically addresses Module 2, Electricity and Magnetism. Classic experiments have been merged with new approaches to introduce the student to the concepts of exponential decay in physical situations, behavior of pulses in transmission lines, and experimental determination of fundamental constants. The exercises encourage creative curiosity and rely heavily on the use of analytical techniques made possible by computers. The module represents a more loosely structured laboratory than the conventional approach in which everyone does the same experiment at the same time. The involvement of the students in discussions with one another and the enhancement of creative curiosity should occur more readily in a less structured environment. The project uses student focus groups, survey instruments, and observations in formative and summative evaluation. Dissemination products include course materials, software, a laboratory manual, and final evaluation reports.