Deconstructing Black Box Aspects of a Computerized Physics Lab

Introductory physics labs increasingly incorporate computers as powerful systems for logging, graphing, and analyzing data (Fig. 1). Situated both physically and conceptually between the external physics experiment and ideas about physics in the mind of the student, such digital systems, composed of electrical technology largely not comprehended by the student, mediate the laboratory process and may function inadvertently to inject an element of unreality and mystery into an otherwise straightforward but challenging experience. The level of mystery can be greatly reduced by briefly postponing the first physics experiment and devoting an entire lab session to a series of guided discussions and simple exercises using the computerized system in conjunction with voltage probes, batteries, and simple transducers to introduce the main features of the digital oscilloscope and establish a simple but workable understanding of the concepts voltage, analog/digital, and sampled data.