A very important function of the beginning laboratories of university physics is to teach current skills that the students can transfer to advanced laboratories in physics or their major area of study and apply later in their career. These skills can be obtained through carefully designed experiments, based on the fundamentals of physics, that incorporate current data acquisition techniques, data analysis methods, and the display of experimental results in an effective and presentable manner. The microcomputer has completely revolutionized how this can be done as demonstrated through upgrades and modernization of our laboratories in Atomic Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Solid Surface/Solid State by employing, among other methods, a data acquisition and control system supported by National Instruments LabVIEW(tm). Based on the experience gained from these advanced laboratories, we believe the benefits should be given to all the students that take even the introductory university physics laboratories. This project completes what has begun on a limited basis -- the modernization of the three one-semester-hour beginning university-physics laboratories that emphasize transferable current skills by: designing experiments that incorporate computer assisted data acquisition techniques, using a wide variety of transducers, using LabVIEW as the programming acquisition language while progressively teaching students over the three semesters how to program in LabVIEW, familiarizing the students with the concept of virtual instruments, using spreadsheets for data reduction and analysis, using plotting and function fitting software to display results in a graphical fashion. The project uses eight state-of-the-art data acquisition stations for experiments.
