Introductory Physics Laboratory Research Articles

Dynamics of productive confirmation framing in an introductory lab

In introductory physics laboratory instruction, students often expect to confirm or demonstrate textbook physics concepts. This expectation is largely undesirable: labs that emphasize confirmation of textbook physics concepts are generally unsuccessful at teaching those concepts and even in contexts that do not emphasize confirmation, such expectations can lead to students disregarding or manipulating their data in order to obtain the expected result. In other words, when students expect their lab activities to confirm a known result, they may relinquish epistemic agency and violate disciplinary practices. We present a contrasting case where, we claim, confirmatory expectations can actually support productive disciplinary engagement. In this case study, we analyze the complex dynamics of students’ epistemological framing in a lab where students’ confirmatory expectations support and even generate epistemic agency and disciplinary practices, including developing original ideas, measures, and apparatuses to apply to the material world. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

A new unit of measurement for introductory physics lab

In introductory physics labs, a challenge arises when students are asked to measure a well-known quantity, such as the free fall acceleration, g. Students often don't perform a proper error analysis if they already know the correct answer, and their result is “close enough.” Masking, or disguising the correct answer, as is often done in nuclear and particle physics research, encourages students to be more careful. In this paper, we introduce a new unit of measurement; in these units, students don't know what the value of g should be, leading to a more engaging and authentic scientific experience. Additionally, we instituted a mock “conference” in which students settled on a consensus value of g in this new system of units. When students quantitatively compare their measurements of an unknown quantity, it motivates them to perform a detailed error analysis. Student feedback on this reformed lab was largely positive.

Device development with a mathematical model to study heat capacity of liquids

A simple device for studying the heat capacity of water was constructed for classroom use. It consists of a water-filled closed container with an inserted heating rod and a thermometer. Initially, the water temperature increases linearly with time but later shows a deviation from the linear trend. To explain the result, the heating rate is assumed to be proportional to the difference between the temperature of the rod and that of water. The device can also be used to measure the specific heat capacity of other common liquids. This article demonstrates a simple equipment design together with an application of calculus in an introductory undergraduate physics laboratory. It presents an opportunity for project-based learning as well as problem solving with an emphasis on mathematical model development.

Investigating changes in student views of measurement uncertainty in an introductory physics lab course using clustering algorithms

Investigating changes in student views of measurement uncertainty in an introductory physics lab course using clustering algorithms

Two Simple Experiments Using FFT with Digital Devices in the Introductory Physics Laboratory

We propose two experiments suited for high school and/or undergraduate physics laboratory which are aimed at the discovery of the practical meaning and utility of the FFT analysis as a mathematical and graphical instrument. They intend to discriminate different periodic signals in various situations, ranging from basic, demonstrative measurements to very complex, real-research experiments. In our proposal, inexpensive digital instruments can be used, with surprisingly accurate results.

Stellar photometry in an introductory physics lab (or, translating flux into magnitudes)

Magnitudes—how astronomers express brightnesses of stars—are confusing to those unfamiliar with them, to say the least. They use a modified version of base-10 logarithms. The smaller—or more negative—the magnitude, the brighter the object. An object with a magnitude of zero is not an object with no brightness but instead is rather bright.

Experimental Verification of the Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity

We have created an experimental procedure for determining the temperature coefficient of resistivity, αR, for introductory physics laboratories. As in the procedure from Henry, this method examines the relationship between temperature and resistivity to establish αR within 10% of the accepted value.

Students’ views about experimental physics in a large-enrollment introductory lab focused on experimental scientific practices

A large-enrollment, introductory physics laboratory course at the University of Colorado Boulder has undergone a recent transformation to help students’ develop lab skills and better align students’ views and beliefs about experimental physics with those of expert experimental physicists through engagement with authentic scientific practices. We examine the impact of the transformation on women and men in the course and report the effect of this transformation on the students’ views and beliefs using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) as a measurement tool. We analyze over 3000 student responses from both before and after the transformation for both women and men on overall E-CLASS scores, as well as item-by-item. The results show statistically significant increase in the overall average E-CLASS score after the transformation as compared to that of the course before the transformation regardless of gender. In addition, item-by-item analysis indicates that there are larger gains in a few E-CLASS items, especially those related to the new course learning goals and some of these items are different for women and men. Our results show that students can have different lab experiences depending on their identity, an important aspect that should to be taken into account when designing educational interventions.Received 4 May 2022Revised 9 November 2022Accepted 16 December 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.010116Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasEpistemology, attitudes, & beliefsInstructional strategiesLearning environmentPhysics Education Research

Student sensemaking about inconsistencies in a reform-based introductory physics lab

Student sensemaking about inconsistencies in a reform-based introductory physics lab

Innovation in Teaching and Learning During Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Absorption and Reflection Spectra with Low Cost Spectrometer

The work demonstrated that a low-cost spectrometer and ImageJ serve as an accurate, reliable, and robust model and tool for learners to grasp abstract concepts in the Introductory Physics Lab Course context. The model design was self-paced while promoting active and peer learning for students. Image analysis within the experimental activity adds to the novelty of the lesson. Within the experimental accuracy, the measurement was shown to correctly identify the absorption spectra of Potassium Dichromate, Methylene Blue, and Potassium Permanganate and to describe the subtractive color-mixing model where Cyan absorbs Red accurately, Magenta absorbs Green, and Yellow absorbs Blue.

Multicultural History of Snell’s Law Laboratory Experiment in Introductory Physics

A popular introductory physics laboratory experiment is one focusing on Snell’s law. This is straightforward to complete with lasers and prisms, but here we present an alternative version that guides the students through some of the major historical developments, recreating and analyzing significant experiments. The discovery of Snell’s law has a fascinating, winding, global history, and the sine relationship eluded some of the greatest minds in optics for more than a thousand years.

A Flexible, Asynchronous Format for Introductory Physics Laboratory Instruction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

After the sudden transition to remote instruction in the spring 2020 semester due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, physics lab instructors rapidly began to prepare for hybrid and/or fully remote instruction for the fall 2020 semester. In this paper, an asynchronous introductory physics lab course structure implemented at Saint Vincent College, a four-year liberal arts college, in the fall 2020 semester is described. Feedback on the students’ experience with the asynchronous format is summarized from student course evaluations. Results from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics are used to evaluate how the course affected student attitudes toward experimental physics.

Bringing three-dimensional learning to undergraduate physics: Insight from an introductory physics laboratory course

Three-dimensional learning (3DL) is an approach to science instruction that was developed for K-12 science education and that can provide guidance for improving undergraduate physics laboratories. In this paper, we describe efforts to comprehensively integrate 3DL into a sequence of undergraduate introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) laboratory courses. This paper is tailored for introductory physics faculty interested in advancing their course's learning goals by simultaneously engaging students in experimental practices, scientific reasoning, and conceptual knowledge. We first review how several well-known laboratory curricula are already implicitly aligned with 3DL. We then describe our IPLS course sequence and show how each 3DL dimension—science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts—is integrated throughout the curriculum. To support implementation, we provide samples of our course documentation, a detailed account of our 3DL integration efforts, a guide to training and supporting teaching and learning assistants in a 3DL course, and a sample set of activities to guide students in participating in 3DL instruction in the supplementary material.

Impacts on student learning, confidence, and affect in a remote, large-enrollment, course-based undergraduate research experience in physics

Over the last decade, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been recognized as a way to improve undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education by engaging students in authentic discovery. CUREs have been shown to have positive benefits similar to traditional undergraduate research experiences; however, they can reach a larger number of students and are open to all students who enroll in the course. Motivated by the need to redesign the large introductory physics lab at The University of Colorado–Boulder to be fully remote in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we designed and implemented the first remote, large-enrollment, physics CURE. Here, we detail the motivations and the challenges when designing the course, and provide detailed descriptions of the course components. Throughout the course, we collected course artifacts and administered surveys to the students. Based on these data sources, we find that this course helped students gain research skills and coding confidence, engage in productive and enjoyable teamwork experiences, and feel motivated and interested in experimental physics research.1 MoreReceived 31 January 2022Accepted 16 March 2022Corrected 28 April 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.010129Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasInstructional materials developmentInstructional strategiesLearning environmentPhysics Education Research

Video Analysis of an Oscillating Cantilever for Introductory Laboratories

Awood cantilever of length ∼2.5 m is driven into resonance using the hand as a simple driver. Video recordings of these oscillations are analyzed to determine experimental second harmonic (n = 2) damped resonance frequencies. These frequencies are compared to theoretical ones, obtained from measurements of elastic moduli, damping properties, and physical dimensions of the cantilever. Experimental frequencies agree with theoretical ones to within their respective uncertainties. Experiments described here can be incorporated seamlessly into introductory college physics laboratories, following discussions of simple harmonic oscillators (including damping). These kinds of experiments are useful for developing students’ skills in designing and troubleshooting experiments, analyzing video recordings, and modeling data using computers. The ease of set up and simple apparatus also make these activities ideal for remote learning such as during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Students’ attitudes toward experimental physics in a conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab

There is some evidence that conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab curricula, such as RealTime Physics, may improve students’ understanding of physics concepts. Thus, these curricula may be attractive for instructors who seek to transform their physics labs to improve student learning. However, the impact of conceptual inquiry-based lab instruction on students’ attitudes and beliefs about experimental physics, as measured by the E-CLASS (Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics) survey, is not yet fully understood. We present data from three curricular approaches over four semesters ( n = 701). We saw no change in E-CLASS scores in the first implementation of a conceptual inquiry-based introductory physics lab. However, the addition of questions that asked students to reflect on issues relating to experimental physics was associated with E-CLASS outcomes that are comparable to other effective approaches to lab instruction.

A single-slit diffraction experiment for measuring laser beam width

A single-slit diffraction experiment in an introductory physics laboratory is generally comprised of a rectangular slit and a laser source. The laser beam is sent to the slit producing the well-known diffraction pattern on the screen. This paper proposes a simple modification of the single-slit diffraction experiment to increase student attention about the laser beam and its diffraction. A single slit can be used to measure laser beam width. The beam width measurement is demonstrated by using a 632.8 nm Helium Neon (HeNe) laser. In this experiment, the laser beam is assumed as a Gaussian beam. The beam width is determined by scanning in one direction across the laser beam. The measurement results are shown to achieve satisfactory results when compared with a commercial laser beam profiler. By measuring the laser beam widths, students will qualitatively observe that the laser beam width increases along propagation distance. This experiment can be an additional exercise in a single-slit diffraction experiment.

Focused writing in the introductory physics laboratory

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Integrating numerical modeling into an introductory physics laboratory

Traditional introductory physics laboratories typically focus on guided experimentation while neglecting essential aspects of the scientific practice including computational reasoning. While there is a broad consensus among physics faculty on the need to introduce undergraduate students to computation, its integration in physics curricula is far from adequate. In this article, we document the process of redesigning a calculus-based introductory physics laboratory course to incorporate computational modeling. We describe the instructional design and document students' and instructors' experiences and attitudes towards this new course. Despite some challenges, students identified numerical modeling as the most important and beneficial feature of the lab course. The computational tools allowed students to engage in more complex and realistic experiments than conventional laboratories, which triggered their interest and kept them engaged in the task. Results from instructor interview data corroborate the positive perceived aspects of student attitudes towards the course.

Introductory physics lab instructors’ perspectives on measurement uncertainty

Introductory physics lab courses serve as the starting point for students to learn and experience experimental physics at the undergraduate level. They often focus on measurement uncertainty, an essential topic for practicing physicists and a foundation for more advanced lab learning. As such, measurement uncertainty has been a focus when studying and improving introductory physics lab courses. There is a need for a research-based assessment explicitly focused on measurement uncertainty that captures the breadth of learning related to the topic, and that has been developed and documented in an evidence-centered way. In this work, we present the first step in the development of such an assessment, with the goal of establishing the breadth and depth of the domain of measurement uncertainty in introductory physics labs. We conducted and analyzed interviews with introductory physics lab instructors across the US, identifying prevalent concepts and practices related to measurement uncertainty, and their level of emphasis in introductory physics labs. We find that instructors discuss a range of measurement uncertainty topics beyond basic statistical ideas like mean and standard deviation, including those connected to modeling, another lab learning goal. We describe how these findings will be used in the subsequent development of the assessment, called the Survey Of Physics Reasoning On Uncertainty Concepts In Experiments (SPRUCE).1 MoreReceived 15 February 2021Accepted 5 April 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010133Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasAssessmentResearch methodologyProfessional TopicsFacultyLower undergraduate studentsPhysics Education Research