Re: [Phys-l] Simulated Labs for General Physics Course

[Julie Quah <juliequah@gmail.com>]

Simulation makes the invisible visual, abstract concept easier to understand. This, IMHO, is very important in guiding our students gaining deep knowledge. In some sense, simulation needs to be more idealistic to remove distraction for beginning learners. As such, it should be taken with real hands-on in the lab to inject the realistic aspect of the learning. Both simulation and labs are equally important for teaching and learning to take place. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 22, 2011, at 5:50, William Robertson <wrobert9@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> There's one thing I haven't seen addressed in this thread, which is  
> the quality of the simulations and hands-on labs. A great simulation  
> is far superior to a poor hands-on lab, and vice versa. One needs to  
> determine the purpose of a lab. Is it to confirm theoretical concepts  
> presented in a lecture, or is the purpose to engage the students in  
> inquiry? The question is somewhat like asking whether it's good to use  
> computers in the classroom. The answer is that it depends on how you  
> use the computers.
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 21, 2011, at 2:30 PM, Donald Polvani wrote:
>
> > Thanks to all who replied to my request for feedback on the above  
> > topic.  I
> > appreciate your comments and feel that I have learned some useful  
> > things
> > from them.
> >
> > Here is my summary of what I heard:
> >
> > 1) The majority opinion is that simulations can help conceptual
> > understanding but are not a substitute for labs.  Doing real labs  
> > provides
> > experience and develops skills necessary for a technical career.   
> > (However,
> > one of you pointed out that there is an article on the PhET web site
> > http://phet.colorado.edu/en/research ("Can Computer Simulations  
> > Replace Real
> > Equipment in Undergraduate Laboratories?", N. D. Finkelstein, K. K.  
> > Perkins,
> > W. Adams, P. Kohl, and N. Podolefsky, PERC Proceedings, 2004) which  
> > states
> > that students doing an electrical simulation were better able to  
> > later build
> > a real electric circuit than students first doing a conventional  
> > lab.)  More
> > research in this area is needed in my opinion.
> >
> > 2) Several feel that simulations could be useful for pre-lab/post-lab
> > purposes (perhaps to point out the important differences between the
> > idealized simulation and the real life lab) or as a makeup lab when  
> > time or
> > equipment was not available.
> >
> > 3) Several feel that the ideal beginning general physics course  
> > would have
> > three components:
> >    - theory (with math)
> >    - simulations/visualizations
> >    - traditional labs
> >
> > With the simulations/visualizations mostly supporting theory in  
> > helping
> > conceptual understanding but all three components mutually  
> > interacting and
> > reinforcing one another.  According to one member, Princeton is  
> > already
> > doing No. 3, and it could be even more suitable for community  
> > college open
> > enrollment students.
> >
> > I myself like No. 3 and had even suggested a small scale (pilot)  
> > version of
> > it to the full time faculty last semester.  I suggested that we try  
> > it with
> > just one of the conventional labs (projectile launching) to see how it
> > worked.  I believe I will make the suggestion again.
> >
> > Thank you all,
> >
> > Don
> >
> > Dr. Donald G. Polvani
> > Retired Engineer
> > Northrop Grumman Corp.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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