Physics teaching is being improved by focusing laboratory activities on exploring and applying fundamental concepts rather than verifying known results, and by improving the quality and increasing the quantity and variety of data collected. High quality graphical representations of data are being used; more powerful analytical and computational tools are being employed; and appropriate topics in the curriculum are being covered through experiments, numerical analysis and simulation. Students are being involved in the solution of more realistic problems and being provided with resources to do so.To achieve these goals, the physics department is acquiring 80386 based computers, VGA monitors, general purpose and motion sensing interfaces and sensors, and a file server, and is equipping and networking a number of data acquisition stations. Faculty are computerizing a number of current experiments and exploring others for possible computerization. The project is impacting initially all the freshmen and sophomore courses for both physical and life science majors, and will expand subsequently to all the students served by the department.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.
