Modernizing Introductory Physics Laboratories for Tomorrow's Technology Workforce

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Educational Instrumentation project at San Jose State University will strengthen undergraduate learning in Physics. Specifically, this project will secure wireless sensors and other modern equipment for teaching laboratories, which will allow students to efficiently collect data so that they can focus their time and effort on understanding the physics behind it in Physics 50, 51 and 52 labs. An estimated 1000 students and 20 faculty will utilize the project-funded equipment each year.

The goals of this project are to enrich the learning and experiences of undergraduate students by upgrading critical equipment used in undergraduate teaching laboratories. The use of Bluetooth enabled sensors to stream data wirelessly to student devices allows the sensors to be easily embedded in moving objects when studying motion, and enable students to easily collect data directly on their own devices.

By collecting data on student devices (rather than a workstation in the lab) the devices used for data collection and analysis will not become obsolete and the skills and tools the students learn doing data analysis will be available to them beyond their time in the lab. The project will assess the impact of the project funded equipment by monitoring pass/fail rates and graduation rates on impacted students, interpreting student surveys about their lab experience and their physics identity, and comparing feedback from an external program reviewer before and after the upgrades.

This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.