This grant provides instrumentation to support a calculus- based introductory physics workshop whose format and content is extended to a "supercourse," taught by a multidisciplinary faculty team, that integrates the material found in the common lower division science/mathematics/engineering core curriculum. The course utilizes interactive technologies to produce a highly visual and dynamic environment, creating interest and excitement to motivate and to engender positive attitudes toward the learning experience. The goal is the development of cognitive skills built on a firm conceptual base. Learning is example driven, inductively leading from observation of phenomena to general principle. The interplay of pictorial, graphical, numerical, verbal, and analytic approaches to the analysis of physical systems is stressed. Coordinated activities utilize locally developed and commercially available computer-based tools. The core technologies utilized are (1) data collection and display by interface to external probes, (2) video digitization and analysis, and (3) systems modeling through simulation. Libraries of self-guided auxiliary activities allow flexible paths of exploration for students of different abilities. Student and instructor support materials are designed as coordinated standalone modules to ensure transportability and flexible use of curricular elements in different teaching contexts.
