This project is upgrading the laboratory component for introductory physics classes. Since the faculty of Rosary College revised the curriculum of 1987, a surprising number of non-science majors are selecting the courses of Meteorology, the Physics of Music, Energy- Urban Supply and Demand, and even General Physics to satisfy the one semester science course requirement. To meet the challenge presented by these students often suffering from mathematics anxiety and with little previous science background, the faculty of the Natural Science Department is designing new experiments, including interfacing some equipment with computers. The students will come to the classes with some previous computer experience and by improving data gathering, the laboratory results should be more consistent thereby making science methods more comprehensible. With the addition of a satellite dish and a digitized observational weather station, the meteorology and energy classes are using state- of-the-art methods, and, through study of this information , students obtain a better understanding of their everyday world. For the students in Physics of Musics and General Physics, the addition of a musical synthesizer and wave analyzer capable of interfacing with a computer improves data gathering in standard experiments and adds new possibilities of synthesizing and analyzing live music. This computerized instrumentation impact on the lectures with the capability of better and more pertinent audiovisuals. The college is matching the award with an equal amount of funds.
