Describes a laboratory designed to give students practical experiences with experimental phenomena discussed in lectures, focusing on laboratory organization and typical experiment. In addition to a list of experiments, three exercises are discussed: fluorescence/laser, ferromagnetic domains, and thermal population (which uses PET computer…

Describes a general purpose microcomputer-based system designed to support small-scale experimentation in the physical sciences in student laboratories. System requirements, teacher reactions, and educational implications are discussed; design criteria are established; and examples are given of the system's application to some simple experiments.…

Discusses the value of laboratory work, suggesting that it is not superior to other aids such as computer simulated experiments (CSE). Advantages of and problems related to use of CSE in the classroom, responses to criticisms of simulated laboratory work, and evaluation of CSE as a teaching aid are considered. (JN)

Describes a microcomputer-based software package developed at the University of Surrey for teaching digital signal processing to undergraduate science and engineering students. Menu-driven software capabilities are explained, including demonstration of qualitative concepts and experimentation with quantitative data, and examples are given of…