Musical acoustics, or "Physics of Music" courses present an opportunity for physics departments to address undergraduate scientific literacy. We are developing a series of software tools called Virtual Labs that guide students through basic concepts in acoustics. These Virtual Labs capture the dynamic nature of music and sound by permitting visualization of acoustical phenomena. In addition, our design for Virtual Labs permit an inquiry-driven analysis of the science of sound by enabling sophisticated manipulations on data students have acquired, without resorting to a "black-box" approach.
The labs are inquiry-driven and are designed to promote active learning. The structure of each lab session is built around peer instruction. We have designed a three-tiered evaluation scheme that enables us to measure how much the students learn, both over the semester and during each class. Our evaluation plan determines how much learning is attributable to the Virtual Labs. Dissemination of results is provided to colleagues and educators via the National Science Digital Library, online notes, journal publication, commercial web sites and in talks given at AAPT meetings
