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Article Excerpt
The notion of problem-based physics laboratories enhanced by computer technology has been coined "studio physics" (Wilson, 1994) and has been practised at various institutions for some time (Cummings, Marx, Thornton, & Kuhl, 1999; Williams, MacLatchy, Backman, & Retson, 1997). In recent years, new technology tools have been available to supplement the standard use of computer probes and data-acquisition software in studio physics. This paper reports on a quantitative/qualitative case study of the implementation of two emerging communication tools: Silicon Chalk and the Graphire[R] Tablet.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A STUDIO PHYSICS LAB?
At Acadia University, all of the approximately 3,600 students lease identical laptop computers. Their classrooms and laboratories are fully wired providing them with access to a range of network software. Lectures and laboratories are delivered with the aid of multimedia tools including digital projectors, laptop docking stations, ELMO[R] projectors, and audio-video consoles.
In the first year physics course at Acadia, several sections are allotted to the studio physics format. The laboratories generally are 2 hours long and conducted twice a week. The technological efficiency of this supplemental time allows the laboratory content to be closely linked to the lecture material; this is quite uncharacteristic of many lab experiences (Hodson, 1993). Course sections typically have 75 students and, as noted above, each student has a laptop computer. Curriculum includes topics as mechanics and motion, friction, rotational inertia, Atwoods Machine, and angular momentum.
During many laboratory sessions, students use Vernier[R] computer probes for data acquisition. The associated Logger Pro[R] software is particularly useful not only for data collection but also for data manipulation and graphical analysis. Previously in traditional lab activities, students collected relevant data and generated a hardcopy lab report that required diagrams, equation derivations, and graphs.
NEW TOOLS AVAILABLE
Our physics laboratories have recently been equipped with two new technology tools and a modified lab submission model. Silicon Chalk[R] is a powerful networking tool that allows students to share data both synchronously and asynchronously. One laptop computer can be set up for data acquisition using the probes while the other laptops can be set up to observe the data collection through the local area network (LAN) afforded by Silicon Chalk[R]. In an asynchronous mode, file sharing is easily accomplished after the data has been saved.
A second tool is the Graphire[R] Tablet. This tablet (and required stylus) easily interfaces with laptops to allow hand-drawn graphs, calculations, diagrams, and annotations to be input into enabled software such as Microsoft Word[R].
The laboratory report format is also electronic. Prior to the laboratory period, students are provided with an electronic file, which is a blank laboratory template for the ensuing lab. Students are able to interact with the electronic lab outline on their laptops, collect data, and insert a variety of objects into their template. The data or graphs from Logger Pro can be shared with Silicon Chalk[R] and pasted into the electronic report. Diagrams, derivations, sketches, and equations can be entered into the electronic lab report using the Graphire[R] Tablet. The ability to interact with the electronic laboratory report shifts the student's energy from generating a standardised report to quickly collecting data and proceeding with conceptual analysis.
REVISITING THE NATURE OF THE LABORATORY ACTIVITIES: A CONSTRUCTIVIST REFIT
The studio physics lab has traditionally used a standard deductive approach. The instructor would introduce topics and associated concepts, explain related equations, and then guide students to re-discover established relationships. For sometime, it has been argued that such approaches neither model real science nor allow for personal construction of meaning (Clough & Clark, 1994a, 1994b).
Recently there has been a renewed interest in situating laboratories in authentic learning experiences that model the tenets of constructivism (Clark, Clough, & Berg, 2000; Clough,...
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