LABORATORY TEACHING FOR INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS COURSE

In an attempt to increase first-year college students’ interest in learning physics, a curriculum which incorporates a sequence of laboratories was developed at Savannah State University, a four-year historical black college and universities (HBCU) college. Relevant science principles and laws are explored and studied in the context of hands-on experiments. Meanwhile, the learners are challenged to develop effective problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Based on the specialty of HBCU freshman students and lecture information, six experiments were designed for mechanic part and six experiments were designed for waves & Electricity part. They are 1)Density measurement using a micrometer; 2)Acceleration measurement using atwood machine; 3)Friction constant measurement using inclined plane; 4)Momentum measurement through collision ; 5) Dynamic cart motion study to confirm mechanic energy conservation; 6)Torque and rotational kinetic energy study; 7) Simple harmonic motion and hooke’s law; 8) Finding local gravitational acceleration from simple pendulum experiment; 9) Standing waves in a string; 10)Electric potential and electric field; 11)Measurement of resistance and ohm’s law; 12)DC circuits. Curriculum details, laboratory procedures and typical results will be discussed in this paper.