9350881 Priest In Fall 1989, the Miami University Department of Physics initiated a new Introductory Level Physics Sequence of courses emphasizing laboratory experience. Building upon the first- year course, which contains major units on 2Oth century physics, we introduced at the Sophomore level a course in Contemporary Physics, which focuses on recent important physics research results obtained within the students' lifetime. The Contemporary Physics Laboratory gives the students "hands-on" experience needed to understand the significance of these recent results. The laboratory is organized into three categories each having a focus: I. "Waves are Particles are Waves", Focus: The Scanning Tunneling Microscope, II. "From Atoms to Solids", Focus: High-Tc Superconductivity, and III. "Four, Three, Two? One? ...Countdown the Forces of Nature", Focus: The Standard Model. This project provides instrumentation for experiments in scanning tunneling microscopy to illustrate particle-wave duality and tunneling through a potential barrier, and provides students with a valuable transferable skill. The equipment is sufficiently sophisticated for use in advanced level individual student projects, involving microscopic studies of surfaces. ***
