Infusion of Laser Technology in Science Courses: An Interdisciplinary Approach

拟议的项目解决了在本科教育中纳入现代技术和各种学习方法的充分证据的需要。尽管报道援引了激光在化学和物理研究中的重要性，但仍不清楚本科生在哪里以及如何开始学习和探索使用激光的创造性想法。本提案描述了为化学和物理专业的学生开发一门激光、光学和光谱学的跨学科课程和相关材料。这门课程将利用非传统的教学方法来帮助捕捉科学探索和发现的真正兴趣和兴奋。它将提供一种手段，将现代设备和技术引入本科课程，同时使用旨在增强学习体验的调查方法。这些方法的一个关键要素将是以实验室为基础的活动，涉及在真正的科学努力和现实世界中遇到的情况。这种学习体验还旨在帮助学生在学科、理论和实验以及基本科学原理和应用之间建立联系。此外，还将为入门科学和数学课程开发基于激光和相关技术的新实验，并为非理科专业的跨学科科学课程开发新的实验。最后，拟议的努力将包括为科学和数学教师举办一次讲习班，以便提供类似的材料，供K-12课堂使用。开发的所有课程材料都将是跨学科的(涉及物理、化学和数学)，从而向学生展示保留、转移、应用和评估其核心课程中提出的基本概念的必要性。因此，学生应该更好地准备好使用科学和技术来解决未来的社会问题。

The proposed project addresses the well-documented need to incorporate modern technology and various learning approaches in undergraduate education. Despite reports citing the importance of lasers in chemical and physical research, it remains unclear where and how undergraduate students begin to learn and explore creative ideas using lasers. This proposal describes the development of an interdisciplinary Lasers, Optics, and Spectroscopy course and relevant materials for chemistry and physics students. This course will utilize non-traditional pedagogical approaches to help capture the genuine interest and excitement of scientific exploration and discovery. It will provide a means for introducing modern equipment and technology into the undergraduate curriculum, while using an investigative approach designed to enhance the learning experience. A key element to these approaches will be laboratory-based activities involving situations encountered in real scientific endeavors and real-world situations. This learning experience is also designed to help students build connections between disciplines, theory and experiments, and basic scientific principles and applications. In addition, new experiments based upon lasers and related technology will be developed for introductory science and mathematics courses, and for an interdisciplinary science course for non-science majors. Finally, the proposed effort would include a workshop for science and mathematics teachers in order to provide similar materials for use in K-12 classrooms. All of the course materials developed will be interdisciplinary (involving physics, chemistry, and mathematics), thus demonstrating the students the need to retain, transfer, apply, and evaluate basic concepts presented in their core courses. As a result, students should be better prepared to use science and technology in addressing future issues of society.