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

许多学生在本科阶段的科学背景相当薄弱。因此，他们中的许多人无法掌握物理的概念基础，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原因。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而得到纠正。以询问为基础的实验室是在一个成功的微机为基础的实验室的基础上建立起来的。研究人员已经证明，利用计算机的快速数据采集能力，立即面对学生的直觉，结果是一个概念上的理解远远优于传统实验室的发展。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。在学期开始和结束时，学生们将接受长达一小时的力概念量表测试，以评估探究式实验室在传授物理概念方面的有效性。这个测试是衡量学生是否形成牛顿世界观的标准。建立探究式物理实验室，对其他高校在物理教学中遇到的学生素质不高的问题具有一定的借鉴意义。实验室的经验可以通过适当期刊上的文章和会议报告来传播。＊

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. *