Inexpensive, good grade charge-coupled-device (CCD) chips and associated cameras and telescopes, with accurate field acquisition hardware and software, slow motion controls, autoguiders, precision drives, and PC-based software for calibrating observations, are now available off-the-shelf. This development has astounding implications for the undergraduate astronomy program. Now, user-friendly software and systems make it possible for students to acquire, reduce, analyze, and interpret precision, real-time astronomical data in their introductory astronomy laboratory. For the advanced student, this can form the basis for their own undergraduate research project. It provides the general education student with an opportunity for hands-on experience with a primarily observational science. Precollege teachers, with this experience, bring a natural excitement for science to their classrooms. New, stimulating observational labs enable students to interpret lunar topography, measure changing planetary features, and study the light variation of individual stars, eclipsing binaries, image clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Archiving of data will allow for longer range studies not possible in one night's session, and indoor laboratories can be used in the case of inclement weather. Thus, in this project, the department plans to implement the CCD into an already popular introductory Astronomy lab, the new Program for Student Learning, and the undergraduate research program.
