9451743 Hones The project is to establish an introductory physics laboratory that will emphasize discovery through interactive data analysis, rather than use the more traditional demonstration and verification approach. To effectively implement such a program we need computers directly interfaced to the experiments. We presently have nine Zenith 486 work stations for data analysis, but we need the interfacing equipment. The heart of the project will be the development of new experiments or the modification of existing experiments for the explicit purpose of creating a true laboratory environment in which the students can participate in the discovery and rapid analysis of physical phenomena. The significance of the project is the introduction of computers so that the students will be able to collect the data, analyze it immediately, and then proceed further with additional measurements and analysis, while they are still in the lab and not at home. This approach is further enhanced by interfacing some of the experiments each semester. It makes it possible to perform more experiments in the allowed time frame and to perform experiments in real time not possible at all at this level before. This principal users of this laboratory will be biology majors, and as such several integrated biology/physics experiments will be implemented, the physics being motivated by the biological application. This course is considered intermediate in level among the introductory laboratory courses offered in the physics department, therefore making it easier to implement the methods in the other courses.
