Project Title:
Seeing Electricity: Improving he Electronics Laboratory Experience for Students at MSUM
Project Director and Other Associated Faculty and Staff:
Linda Winkler, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Contact: winklerl@mnstate.edu, Tel.: (218)477-2460
Ananda Shastri, Asst. Prof., Minnesota State University Moorhead, Contact: shastri@mnstate.edu, Tel.: (218)477-2448
Project Design:
One of the barriers to understanding electricity is that the electrical charge remains invisible. The instrument that was designed to monitor moving charge is the oscilloscope. This project will support the purchase of oscilloscopes and to integrate them into science lab projects and thereby improve student understanding of physics through hands-on activities.
Project Evaluation and Outcomes:
During the 2004-05 academic year, MSUM purchased oscilloscopes and integrated their use into labs related to four courses involving 3 faculty and over 111 students. Evaluations were conducted through the use of a pre-test and post-test in Physics 161 and 201 and gains achieved were not very different from courses in which oscilloscopes were not used. In the post-lab quizzes, gains were significant and 100% of student passed post-lab quizzes on oscilloscope use.
Lessons Learned, Dissemination and Sustainability
The Physics Department at MSUM plans to continue improving students’ understanding of wave forms and electricity. In the future, they plan to hold a mini-retreat on the tests to interpret the results, present some of findings at the joint Minnesota/Iowa/Wisconsin Association of Physics Teachers meeting in October, 2005, and develop more interactive conceptual activities around electricity and circuits.
