Re: no lab facilities

[Robert A Cohen <bbq@ESU.EDU>]

On Mon, 24 Jan 2000, Allen Shotwell wrote:

> Here's AAPT's spin on labs
> From: Goals of the Introductory Physics Laboratory, American Association of
> Physics Teachers, The Physics Teacher, Volume 35/Number 9, December
> 1997.[shortened and somewhat paraphrased].
>
> Labs are for...
> I. The Art of Experimentation - The introductory laboratory should engage
> each student in significant experiences with experimental processes,
> including some experience in designing investigation.
> II. Experimental and Analytical Skills - The laboratory should help the
> student develop a broad array of basic skills and tools of experimental
> physics and data analysis.
> III. Conceptual Learning - The laboratory should help students master basic
> physics concepts.
> IV. Understanding the Basis of Knowledge in Physics - The laboratory should
> help students understand the role of direct observation in physics and
> distinguish between inferences based on theory and the outcomes of
> experiments.
> V. Developing Collaborative Learning Skills - The laboratory should help
> students develop collaborative learning skills that are vital to success in
> many lifelong endeavors
>
> [My] Intuition is that this doesn't line up well with pure simulations such
> as Interactive Physics and would require something "hands-on". However, my
> intuition is quite flawed at times so I need to think about it some before
> I weigh in on the debate.

We should be careful with how we define "hands-on".  I think
investigations in computational physics can meet some of the goals listed
above if designed correctly.  Personally, I have just recently started
redesigning our intro labs and removed most, but not all, of the
Interactive Physics labs.  If the purpose of the lab is to verify theory,
then using a simulation is circular in my opinion.  However, as I already
mentioned, I still use some of the simulations:

1. I have students simulate an object under constant acceleration in
order to investigate two types of errors: rounding and computer
integration.  By using a computer, we don't have to worry about other
possible causes of error like "human error" and measurement precision.
Very hard to do this otherwise.

2. I have students simulate the motion of an object under a force = -kx so
they can get used to interpreting what Acos(wx) means.  My students are
very poor with trig and this helps to relate trig functions and graphs.

3. I have students simulate the motion of a charge when placed near other
fixed charges so they can develop an idea of electric potential energy
(by examining graphs of the charge's kinetic energy as it moves around
the screen under the influence of the local field).  Very hard to do this
in real life.

I can think of other uses of simulation software as well although I don't
currently use it for anything other than what I list above.

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| Robert Cohen               Department of Physics       |
|                            East Stroudsburg University |
| bbq@esu.edu                East Stroudsburg, PA  18301 |
| http://www.esu.edu/~bbq/   (570) 422-3428              |
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