Through this project, laboratory experiences for rural college students are expanded by integrating new problem-solving experiments into the physics curriculum. New and older computers can be utilized through new interfacing techniques that transform obsolete computers into versatile laboratory equipment. The goals of the project are to increase student access to new research methods by (1) updating the calculus-based sequences of courses for engineering, physics, and mathematics majors with new problem-solving experiments, using microcomputer-based equipment, (2) providing more exciting and enlightening experiments for the liberal arts students in Survey of Physics, using the MBL; and (3) disseminating advances in computer-based experimental methods to the science and math teachers in rural high schools throughout the region.
